Abstract
Missing from the literature on climate change are descriptions of what the specific surroundings at places might be like in 100 years, given the significant environmental changes that are expected. Through a set of short narratives, this chapter attempts to preview environmental conditions in Lower Saxony and Bremen , Germany; Gilan , Iran; Xishuangbnanna , Yunnan , China ; and the Edwards Plateau, Texas, United States. These descriptions of future conditions are interpreted directly from published and peer-reviewed climate data that are projected for the year 2100. Their purpose is to illustrate the type, magnitude, and extent of biophysical alterations that are likely to take place at a localized scale, given the trends in greenhouse gas emissions from human enterprise. Annual water balance charts compare the climate of 1990 with that of 2100 at each location. While the narratives cannot depict precisely what conditions will be like, for the first time they do provide a lens through which we can get a ground view of what it is reasonably likely.
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Notes
- 1.
with the exception of a decrease of 1.4 % in 2009, reflecting the global economic downturn, but a meteoric 5.9 % increase in 2010 (Boden et al. 2011).
- 2.
e.g., the standard deviation of weekly or monthly precipitation expressed as a percentage of the mean of those estimates.
- 3.
the Caspian was called the “Hyrcanian Sea” by the early Greeks.
- 4.
An F1 tornado causes moderate damage with winds of 117 to 180 km/h (73 to 112 mi/h); an F2 tornado causes considerable damage with winds of 182 to 253 km/h (113–157 mi/h). An F3 tornado causes severe damage with winds of 254 to 332 km/h (158 to 206 mi/h). An F4 tornado causes devastating damage with winds of 333 to 419 km/h (207 to 260 mi/h), and an F5 tornado causes incredible amounts of damage with winds above 420 km/h (261 mi/h) (Fujita 1971; NOAA Storm Prediction Center 2011).
- 5.
as of 2008; about 80 % of all electric generating capacity.
- 6.
92 % of all non-electric industrial heat production
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Jennings, M. (2014). Field Notes from the Future: Environmental Conditions at Four Localities in 2100. In: Norwine, J. (eds) A World After Climate Change and Culture-Shift. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7353-0_5
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