Serious question to anyone: which would be worse for the inhabitants of the planet, 50 years from now being on average 5 degrees warmer, or 5 degrees colder?
I personally would prefer ‘colder’ on average (more snowshoeing for me), but in a macro sense, which would be more detrimental to the most people/economy/food supply etc?
Colder is much worse.
i think we would not survive a 5 degree shift in either direction. if the wx did not get us the social unrest would as a result of mass migration.
5 degrees colder also means less food to eat at higher prices and still more money to keep warm because of the huge demand, but you will have fun snowshoeing ... until the cloned smilodon picks up your scent ... how fast can you run in snowshoes anyway?
5 degrees warmer means more abundant vegetation, more food at less cost, much lower power bills (somewhat offset by increase AC usage), no cloned smilodon to worry about while you get in your snowshoeing.
I know no one has clones a smilodon yet, but they will have to right after they clone woolly mammoths.
I think you can look to the Dark Ages as an example of what happens when there is ‘cooling’. Plants, animals and people tend to thrive in warmer climates rather than colder.
Here’s a pretty good article:
Living in the Houston, TX area (where it is 80° F today) I would prefer "colder" as well. However, the warmer temps would almost have to be better for the planet.
It’s not even a contest. Cold is far worse, populations would be dropping off.
Colder is worse by far. When half of North America was under a mile or so of ice, it was probably pretty difficult to grow much of anything on it.