CobblyWorlds wrote: > Hello James, > > I've not noticed the 'onward march of Maize', here in Lancashire. > However in view of the mild weather we've been having it seems > reasonable that this could change the practicalities and economics of > what crops to grow.
First page I googled (just now, *not* prior to my previous post): http://www.edinburgh.ceh.ac.uk/iccuk/indicators/23.htm "Although stable in area throughout the 1980s, the area of forage maize roughly quadrupled through the 1990s. This large expansion is due to a combination of factors, including the introduction of new varieties which are better adapted to UK conditions, perceptions of a warming climate, recent experience of warmer weather and the introduction in 1993 of an arable payment scheme under the Common Agricultural Policy." Pretty good guess huh? I think I'll award myself full marks for that! Lancashire may be a bit too grim for it to have caught on so far - it was common in Cheshire when I lived there >5 years ago (ok, so I was actually living on Wirral, which is Merseyside really, but we like to pretend we are posh). > And as the forcing changes from > CO2 are so fast compared to our best analogy - glacial/interglacial, Note however the Dansgaard-Oeschger events, reckoned to be about 8C warming in 40 years (on a regional basis - but we live on a regional basis, as do ecosystems!). Indeed there is a research program (RAPID) largely predicated on the possibility of this sort of thing (THC shutdown/rapid cooling is the main focus), but it's believed (by most rational people) to be very unlikely irrespective of anthropogenic forcing, AIUI. > I still feel disquiet about our > British summer being 2degC above average. Think of all the CO2 savings with people no longer flying south for the summer :-) Living in Lancashire, I'd have thought you would welcome it more than most! James --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
