General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "Is a human 'population bomb' ticking?" at AlJazeera [View all]NickB79
(19,236 posts)Your argument sounds like those I've heard from skeptics of global warming, stating "oh, we'll just farm in Canada if it gets too hot in Oklahoma."
Such sentiment ignores the multiple complexities of the global food chain that have arisen over centuries of human expansion and of the basics of farming itself. For example, you can't grow crops in much of Canada even if the climate warmed to permit it, simply because the soil is much thinner, rockier, and nutrient-poor compared to the US breadbasket states. Even if you could, you'd need to rebuild the networks that carry that food to processors and eventually the hungry consumers. A farmer in Alberta might not be able to get his crops to market at a decent price if it has to be shipped thousands of miles extra miles to the nearest port.