How Canada will become a superpower, making the Northern Rim the envy of the world

[Swede]

Although climate change could still have devastating effects for much of the world, some regions stand to benefit immensely. Canada, Scandinavia, and even Greenland could all become economic powerhouses, making "The New North" a very attractive destination.

This is one of the central premises of respected climate scientist Laurence Smith's new book, The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future, which is published later this month. Just as the Pacific Rim has gained ever-increasing economic importance over the last half-century, melting in the polar regions will allow a similarly powerful Arctic Rim to develop, providing an unprecedented economic jolt to Canada, Russia, the northern United States, Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland.


http://io9.com/5631708/how-canada-will-become-a-superpower-making-the-northern-rim-the-envy-of-the-world?skyline=true&s=i

[phantom power]

1. benefit!

[irislake]

3. Oh, come on,

if we had wanted to be a `super power`we coulda stuck with the United States instead of fighting them off.

[phantom power]

5. man, don't hitch your wagon to our star -- we're on our way to 3rd-world status.

x(

[txlibdem]

7. True. Unfortunately.

eom

[EmilyKent]

2. Yes, Mr Harper and 'the west' have dreams of glory,

which is why, apparently, they have to keep all those pesky-moocher-refugees out.

http://www.ottawasun.com/comment/columnists/lorrie_goldstein/2010/09/07/15272306.html

[Fumesucker]

4. Eh?

[dimbear]

6. Have to consider what would be the prevailing weather after global warming,

global warming makes weather more extreme as well as averaging warmer, and Canada is subject to extremely powerful storms. Awesome storms, actually. Something to see, in fact! After global warming they may be more like dire. TBD.

[chollybocker]

8. Inevitable - in theory.

Canada, Russia, northern US, Scandinavia, Iceland, and Greenland becoming the most densely populated regions on Earth. Probably not in my lifetime, but interesting to observe...

[txlibdem]

9. I don't know about high population density

Those areas will become the bread basket of the world as most of our current agricultural land becomes unusable.

[Gator_Matt]

10. Melting permafrost?

Wouldn't much of the land mass be a mushy wasteland due to melted permafrost, or would that only be temporary?

[wishlist]

11. Might be rich fertile muckland as US Great Lakes wet areas were when drained

Settlers in our formerly glacial wetland areas below the Great Lakes drained swampland back in the 1800's turning it into high producing agricultural fields.

[EmilyKent]

12. Permafrost is only in the high Arctic.

[Lorien]

13. Yeah, right. They'll only have those pesky droughts, storms, and insect swarms to

deal with. :eyes: