Predictions in climate change throughout Europe have improved tremendously since climate models have improved in their ability to simulate the climate. Although these climate models have improved in their ability to simulate climates, the spread in their projections is much wider than we would hope, due to large natural variability throughout Europe. Despite this, evidence shows that model projections are strong enough for us to put our faith in, meaning that it is very likely that temperatures will keep rising throughout Europe, and it is also likely that winter temperatures will rise, especially in the north. We are also likely to see an increase in annual precipitation throughout northern and central Europe.
According to climate trends and projections, there will be changes in temperature and rainfall throughout Europe varying by region. This is one of many effects of climate change, next to distribution, phenology and abundance of varying wildlife, stagnating wheat fields, and forest decline. As climate changes, Europe will be more prone to systematic failures brought upon by extreme weather events, and economic activity will be impeded, especially in the Southern regions, which could lead to a greater disparity between regions. Some impacts, like the rising of sea levels will be able to be reduced by adaptation, but evidence shows that there are limits to how much we can adapt, imposed by physical, social and technological factors. Europe will be at higher risks for floods, transport will suffer due to hot and cold weather extremes, and energy production and transmission may decrease. In addition to these somewhat obvious impacts, there will also be less obvious results such as decreases in tourism, an increase in cereal yields in Northern Europe, and reduction in the value of wine products due to differing geographic distribution of grape varieties. Adaptation will help us overcome some of these difficulties, but there will be a cost to all adaptations, and there will be many unintended consequences of adaptation measures that will have to be analyzed as we develop a plan for fighting climate change.In my opinion, the most interesting issue that will be brought upon by climate change is the impacts on food production systems. Although this might be an unpopular opinion, personally I have not placed much importance on the appearance of the earth and the preservation of natural aspects. What I am trying to say is that it is a lot more interesting for me to see how humans will be directly effected rather than endangered species and rising sea levels. One of the most significant changes that will effect us is the impacts on crop yields, as studies have shown that the impact by climate change has been largely negative rather than positive. For me, it is engaging to think about this issue because there are several advances being made to combat this. While we attempt to combat climate change by reducing our footprint on the earth, we may also devise agricultural techniques which are not dependent on local climates. The map below shows that regions with more extreme weather conditions and lower technological advancement will have much greater impacts to human well being and food production, for instance, Africa. There are regions of Africa which will have a very high impact on food production based on climate change, which I speculate is a result of their food production being largely dependent with climate.
Hi! My location is France, and it is in the same region as Germany. Because they are both within Europe and very close together, the climate impacts on the the 2 locations are very similar. I decided to focus on the river discharge, so reading about how vulnerable food production is to climate change was very interesting. The point about how climate change is doing negative things to our crop yield, and our new advancement in technology to compensate for that decrease is actually making the problem worse was interesting to see. Thank you for sharing your blog with us. I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteHi, my location is Japan and I thought your choice on food production as the most interesting threat was really interesting considering that was my choice too. However, you had mentioned you weren't as much concerned with endangered species but more focused on feeding humans. I thought this was cool because even though we focused on the same threat, I chose a different way of going about it because Japan is an island so they rely on fish production. This is eroding the surrounding reefs and causing mass extinction, but also is harming the population of Japan because the food production isn't going to last forever. It was interesting to read your point of view, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi, I really enjoyed your post and learned a lot about climate change impacts in Europe! Like that of Bangladesh and much of the rest of Asia, temperatures are predicted to increase both in the summer and the winter annually. Unlike Germany, Bangladesh is expected to receive a smaller amount of precipitation in the future due to the affects of climate change. Much like the extensive coastlines of Europe, those of Asia will also experience higher sea levels that will lead to flooding. It is sad to me that all of the impacts we have both discussed will harm the lives of millions of people and bring stress to many economies. I enjoyed the good read!
ReplyDeleteHey Sean, nice post. After reading your blog, I noted that one issue Germany has in common with my country, El Salvador, is the future water availability and water restriction, and its effect on the land and the people. In parts of Central America, we will be seeing reduced rainfall, but I see Germany is going to have a real issue about increased precipitation in the future.
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