Can we talk about the crazy record breaking weather this year? Seems like things are going crazy way faster then expected, with heatwaves, floods, wildfires, droughts etc etc making life hell for a record number of people. Seems like the worse-case climate predictions are coming true and that it's probably gonna get worse and worse from now on.
Honestly, while a shrinking population is bad for the economy, in times like this I'm glad that China has a shrinking population. If things continue to degrade, finding 2 square meals and 1L of water a day is going to be a increasing difficult task, especially when recent global crop yields in the past 2 years have been horrible and the food supply isn't likely to improve anytime soon. Countries like India that are growing their population by a few million a year are really going to struggle with food and water shortages and other realities of a warming world, like the fact that not having air conditioner means that there's a good chance that you're gonna to die during a heatwave, or the floods and wildfires that come with a warming world.
In that regard, I wonder if the recent heavy rainfall in northeastern China was just a result of a freak typhoon or just a permanent change in the weather pattern there. Various climate models have shown that northern china will receive more rainfall in a warming world. Although a hotter world will naturally result in more and stronger typhoons, so northern china will get more rainfall either way. Northern china might have to start seriously preparing for some serious flooding events in the future, more then the "normal" especially around the typhoon season. Which is a sliver lining, though floods are bad, I would much rather have floods than droughts, at least you can plan and engineer around floods, you can't really do shit vs a bad drought. Although if northern china does getting most of their rainfall via typhoons like say Taiwan does or India does it's monsoon season, then it should get serious about storing the rainfall it gets during this limited periods.
For migration strategies, Beijing might have to start planning and acting on some now. Better infrastructure and city planning for floods and heatwaves is needed. More reservoirs, more drains, never building a city in a depression or downhill area. Offering incentives to move people from the hotter south to the northen-most regions. If northern China's rainfall pattern does alter to give the region a lot more rain, I wonder if it's worth it to build a east-west water transfer project, start pumping water to Xinjiang and inner monglina to green those deserts. A lot more use of more radical GMO for crops to thrive under even the most drastic weather conditions.
Honestly, while a shrinking population is bad for the economy, in times like this I'm glad that China has a shrinking population. If things continue to degrade, finding 2 square meals and 1L of water a day is going to be a increasing difficult task, especially when recent global crop yields in the past 2 years have been horrible and the food supply isn't likely to improve anytime soon. Countries like India that are growing their population by a few million a year are really going to struggle with food and water shortages and other realities of a warming world, like the fact that not having air conditioner means that there's a good chance that you're gonna to die during a heatwave, or the floods and wildfires that come with a warming world.
In that regard, I wonder if the recent heavy rainfall in northeastern China was just a result of a freak typhoon or just a permanent change in the weather pattern there. Various climate models have shown that northern china will receive more rainfall in a warming world. Although a hotter world will naturally result in more and stronger typhoons, so northern china will get more rainfall either way. Northern china might have to start seriously preparing for some serious flooding events in the future, more then the "normal" especially around the typhoon season. Which is a sliver lining, though floods are bad, I would much rather have floods than droughts, at least you can plan and engineer around floods, you can't really do shit vs a bad drought. Although if northern china does getting most of their rainfall via typhoons like say Taiwan does or India does it's monsoon season, then it should get serious about storing the rainfall it gets during this limited periods.
For migration strategies, Beijing might have to start planning and acting on some now. Better infrastructure and city planning for floods and heatwaves is needed. More reservoirs, more drains, never building a city in a depression or downhill area. Offering incentives to move people from the hotter south to the northen-most regions. If northern China's rainfall pattern does alter to give the region a lot more rain, I wonder if it's worth it to build a east-west water transfer project, start pumping water to Xinjiang and inner monglina to green those deserts. A lot more use of more radical GMO for crops to thrive under even the most drastic weather conditions.
