Views of Australia old and new
Airminded has an Anzac Day post recording the thoughts of an Australian serviceman posted to Old Blighty in 1940 that are as revealing about the “old Australia” was they are about the “Mother Country”:
It is a new experience to stand shoulder to shoulder with women while buying a glass of beer.
Struth, a shiela could have gone dry while trying to get a beer back then…
And the Independent today has a letter from a Briton who emigrated to Brisbane in 2003 lamenting the demise of the quarter-acre lawn, and indeed baths, in the face of acute drought and urban water shortage – or what may well be the permanent conditions in the future. I really don’t think Australia is a great bet, should the climate – the fates forbid – start to go pear-shaped faster than expected.
Someone must have done the calculations – perhaps the highlands of Scotland, so long as the Gulf Stream holds out?
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There have been calculations on optimal conditions post-climate change (er, mid-climate change, since it’s likely to be a centuries-long series of catastrophies). The Highlands are not a fantastic bet, since the gulf stream is probably one of the most likely horror-case scenarios out there (hello, European mini-ice age).
I wish I could tell you which regions will fare best, but there are so many different models, it’s rather hard to say. Rainfall will matter greatly, and that’s the hardest thing to predict.
Comment by Jody — April 30, 2007 @ 11:04 am