WPR's The New Rules: Global Warming Shifts Focus to Friendly North
Monday, September 27, 2010 at 8:53AM 
From the Arctic Council's website.
According to virtually all global warming projections, humanity faces significantly more conflict in the decades ahead as we fight over dwindling resources in climate-stressed lands. However, those reports typically overlook one likely outcome that could counterbalance the more negative impacts of global warming -- that of northern territories becoming significantly milder, more accessible, and, most intriguingly, more hospitable to immigration. This is the essential good news to be found in Laurence C. Smith's fascinating new book, "The World in 2050."
Read the entire column at World Politics Review.
Read about the book because of Smith's piece in the WSJ, which I blogged. Asked Putnam for the book and got it pronto. Like I hint at in the piece, Smith's survey of futurism was only average and didn't really add anything to the book. I have no idea why he or his editors felt the need to promise "the world in 2050," because the text simply doesn't deliver. But the book-within-the-book on the "New North" was eye-popping. I would have loved to hear more about that and skip all the surveying.
Arctic, China, EU, Russia, US, US Military | in WPR Column | Email Article | Permalink | Print Article 
Reader Comments (1)
There's a good article on the polar future in Foreign Policy this month.