Re: Climate is long-term; weather is short-term

Ken...

With higher overall temperatures, many of the current weather trends will either intensify, or cease altogether. Even if weather warmed in Alaska, the ground is generally too nutrient poor to support large-scale farming. The melting permafrost would create state-sized bogs and swamps. The large (and small) fauna there will be stressed and possibly go extinct... so it's not just a simple translation of 'higher' temperatures without taking into account the domino effect of this change.

Every dynamic system has its attractive state - the state at which it normally exists and functions. Any major deviations from this state are always brought under control quickly. However, a body blow to the system - something that changes it fundamentally - means the system itself will need to find a new attractive state. This means that all patterns that we have grown used to - planning our lives around - will change. The best 'small-scale' example is the El Nino/La Nina effect of the periodic cooling ocean waters off the west coast of South America. Just that little change has the tremendous effects of rain in North America and drought in Australia, for example. It doesn't take much to throw everything out of whack, and we will be hard-pressed to react in time to these changes.