[ntelson1s]

On a planet with a surface ~3/4 covered in water, I've always just assumed since I was young that hotter weather would just mean more intense water cycles. Anywhere not landlocked on the wrong side of a watershed could stand to benefit from the extra humidity. Hopefully California can actually make use of this. There was recent rainfall the past couple years, but they have a long way to come in terms of infrastructure and also dealing with their eco laws at arms with building more reservoirs and other means of avoiding the fluctuating seasons of dry and wet.

It reminded me constantly of John Steinbeck on the drought cycle in the Salinas Valley, “During the dry years, the people forgot about the rich years, and when the wet years returned, they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”

For anyone who hasn't, I highly recommend checking out the drone footage of the Oroville dam. The scale of destruction was massive, and rumor has it even sparked a tiny gold rush after so much bedrock and sediment was churned up.

http://imgur.com/gallery/mpUge

[tracker1]

That was my thought as well... I've even heard statements that a 2 degree raise in temperatures globally could be great for food production by pushing the good growing zones outward toward more land mass...

-- edit I'm not denying climate change, or that humans are a factor (even if relatively small).. I'm against pollution in general, And current projections to my understanding are about 50 years of minor cooling, followed by 150 years of warming to about 2 degrees hotter. It's not a "solved" issue. And I'm fine with anti-pollution stances and policies. I am not okay with using alarmist propaganda to sell anti-pollution, and then setting up systems to reward that behavior.

[s_kilk]

> 2 degree raise in temperatures globally could be great for food production...

Bear in mind that the 2-degree figure is 2-degrees celcius __average__ global temperature, not two degrees maximum. The oceans are much cooler than land, and the further inland you go the hotter it gets, so at about 2-degrees average warming you've got maybe +3 degrees in Britain, and about +7 degrees Celcius in central USA, which would have catastrophic effects on food production.

Now add in the pressure of vast numbers of people migrating North away from the equator because they're all literally starving, and you've got a formula for civilisation-ending instability.

[EDIT] Also, bear in mind it's two degrees Celcius, which is about 3.6 degrees Farenheit, I've seen American friends get mixed up on that point, misjudging the severity by a factor of almost two.