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Comment by jdavis703 | Hacker News Reader

Russia is supposed to be nicer. Some people believe it’ll become the bread basket of the world if climate change continues unabated.

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I think that’s a simplistic view of it. As far as I’ve followed along, Russia has been having droughts and mega fires which tend to be incompatible with high crop yields.

Well I believe the droughts and wildfires are not really occurring in Siberia, which is the area I think some are speculating will become a breadbasket.

Edit: I was wrong.

Living around Seattle, I disagree, lately there have been articles just about every year about wildfires or drought in Siberia, and many about those fires causing smoky skies in Seattle.

This summer: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/07/05/siberia-forest-fir...

2019: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/unprecedented-numbe...

2018: https://crosscut.com/2018/07/first-smoky-skies-season-arrive...

There are unprecedented wild fires in siberia. What are you talking about!

Perhaps they argue for this case over in https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/16/magazine/russ.... I haven't read the article, I just keep the bookmark around.

Siberia has awful soil that doesn't have nearly the nutrients necessary to support large scale agriculture even if the temperature shifts. You could fix that, but it would take the same amount of time as trying to fix climate change (at least on a big enough scale).

Talking about megafires, Chernobyl’s surroundings are sitting under dry leaves, because bacteria and insects have defects and don’t decompose them properly.

You have a source on this?

Google. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/forests-around...

Sure but give it a few thousand years

Yeah, "some people" being Russian. Fooling themselves like the rest of the world.

Do you think thawed permafrost is usable as arable land with the snap of a finger? Furthermore one could wonder what else will thaw and give us some nasty surprises.

Im thinking of the scene in Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum says: 'Life finds a way.'

And it will likely open the Arctic ocean for much shorter shipping lanes from Russia to Canada.

Hopefully by sail boat...

Cruise ship.

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