How is warmer good?

Question

I'd like to hear from the doubters what specific ways that a globally warmer climate will be good for our civilization and species. And what would be considered too much warming?

Please provide links to reliable sources for your views. Personal assertions and opinions around here tend to be quite inaccurate at times.

Answer 1

well since its just a 1 degree increase in the AVERAGE, keep in mind its the average, smarty, any one single location wont even see a difference in weather except for a few weeks of unseasonably warm weather dispersed through-out the year.  Meaning, life will go on, everywhere, just as it always has, and no one will notice.  No plants will notice, no other species will notice, if the media never said anything, no one would even know about it.  Its not like it is 1 degree warmer every day, the temperature goes up and down, above and below average temperatures.  Since we already see above average temperatures during random times during the year, NOTHING WILL SEEM ANY DIFFERENT.  

I keep seeing peoples experiments on plants, and they do it in the most inaccurate way possible.  I saw how corn supposedly wont be able to grow in america because of warming because some guy grew corn in a sealed container 100's of feet underground(salt mine), and set it so it was like 6 degrees warmer AT ALL TIMES, which DOESNT HAPPEN in the real world.  Global warming might be 2 or 3 extra weeks of temperatures that we already see today, so im not sure how anything is going to change.

Too much warming is the warming that will happen as the sun expands, and the oceans boil off.  Of course, no one will be around to see this, because it wont happen for almost another billion years.

Im not sure why you think you need sources for a question like this, apparently you dont understand the whole concept of the global average.  Do people have so little confidence in their own minds that they must constantly rely on "someone smarter" to tell them what reality is like?  

What sources do you have that show that a warmer climate will be destructive if global warming is proven to not increase hurricanes, tornados, or any other destructive weather systems?

Logically, you can assume it will lengthen the growing season, increase the growing "zones" in america, allowing a wider variety of plants to grow in locations farther north than before.  Those 2 or 3 extra weeks of above average temperatures ( keep in mind we ALREADY see above average temperatures during the course of the year) arent going to change anything.

Answer 2

The answer to this question depends on how many of Earth's 6+ billion people that you believe should continue to be fed.

Edit:

It appears that the person under me has answered your question by making up his own data. Please use "Google Scholar" to find what the actual body of current SCIENTIFIC evidence says:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&...

Answer 3

Warmer is better because more people are killed by cold than heat.

That's about the extent of their thinking.  Nevermind that rapid climate change is never beneficial to species adapted to the existing climate, or that there were 'megadroughts' during the MWP, which wasn't even as warm as today, or the dozens of other reasons that 'warmer is better' is an amateurish, oversimplified, and wrong conclusion.

Answer 4

It's not.

Warming may change the nature of the food we eat

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/Suzu...

http://www.climatechangenews.org/nFood.h...

Uganda: 1.5 Million People Face Starvation Due to Foods, Drought - AllAfrica.com

Some 1.5 million people are in need of food aid in parts of the country hit by last year's floods and now experiencing drought since January.

14th March 2008

Australia's food bowl lies empty - BBC

After America, Australia is normally the second largest exporter of grain, and in a good year it would hope to harvest about 25 million tonnes. But the country remains in the grip of the worst drought in a century, which is why the 2006 crop yielded only 9.8m tonnes.

Last year saw one of the best starts to a growing season for years, but dry weather in recent weeks has forced the Australian government to slash its crop forecasts by 30%.

14th March 2008

Early spring thaw could affect your groceries - MSNBC

NASA scientists have recorded an earlier regional thawing trend across northern high latitudes, advancing almost one day a year, since 1988. This trend, a likely result of global warming, leads to a longer growing season and supplies more time to harvest, which on the surface can be seen as positive. Some new studies, though, warn that this situation could actually increase the effects of climate change in the long term.

Why? Early thaw has the potential to alter the cycle of atmospheric carbon dioxide intake and release. A longer growing season promotes more carbon uptake, which is then stored in seasonally frozen and permafrost soils. But when permafrost soils thaw and dry out, higher temperatures in the fall promote release of the stored carbon back into the atmosphere. This process is projected to increase over time at an accelerated rate, sending carbon dioxide levels soaring and further warming the planet.

13th March 2008

World warned on high food costs - BBC

The UN secretary general tells the BBC he is "deeply concerned" about the sharp rise in global food prices.

See also: Grain traders buzz as prices soar - BBC News

Grain prices are pushed higher by a combination of soaring global demand from new consumers and failed crops restricting their supply.

12th March 2008

Wheat-a-fix? - BBC News

Global stocks of wheat are plummeting and people are starting to worry about the price of staples like bread. But can you beat the commodity by growing it in your own back garden?

11th March 2008

Warnings over future food crisis - BBC News

A world food crisis can be expected in the coming decades as our demand for food outstrips our ability to produce it, a UK government adviser has warned. Climate change is expected to worsen the food shortage

7th March 2008

Wheat Rises as Investors Bet Crops Will Face Adverse Weather - Bloomberg.com

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat surged the most allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade on speculation adverse weather will hurt crops for the third straight year.

4th March 2008

Abnormally dry and mild winter hampers growth of crops in food-starved NKorea - CNews

SEOUL, South Korea - State media reported today North Korea has experienced an abnormally mild and dry winter that has hampered the growth of some crops, threatening to exacerbate the impoverished country's chronic food shortages.

4th March 2008

Climate change's most deadly threat: drought - The Christian Science Monitor

Anthropologist Brian Fagan uses Earth's distant past to predict the crises that may lie in its future.

4th March 2008

Will global warming increase plant frost damage?

Widespread damage to plants from a sudden freeze that occurred across the Eastern United States from 5 April to 9 April 2007 was made worse because it had been preceded by two weeks of unusual warmth, according to an analysis published in the March 2008 issue of BioScience.

4th March 2008

UN warns climate change in Mideast could lead to food, water shortages - CNews

CAIRO, Egypt - Climate change is likely to reduce agricultural production and exacerbate water shortages in the Middle East, threatening the region's poor, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization warned Monday.

4th March 2008

In Highland Peru, a Culture Faces Blight - NPR

Nothing is more important than the potato in the highland villages of Peru. Thousands of varieties abound here, cultivated over time as insurance against unpredictable conditions. But Peru's potato culture confronts its biggest threat yet: Global warming has opened the door to the disease that caused the Irish potato famine.

4th March 2008

The World's Growing Food-Price Crisis - TIME

Soaring prices of staples — which have risen about 75% since 2005, driven by growing demand, rising oil prices and the effects of global warming — have sparked riots in several countries, as people reel from sticker shock and governments scramble to feed their people.

Answer 5

well, warmer is good to some things around the planet. not all warming is good.