What 2 degrees would look like

Despite the optimism of climate gurus like Robert Stavins and Trevor Houser with the results of Cancun, a temperature rise of 2 degrees is almost certain and adaptation is here to stay. That's why these two videos by CCAFS (a new CGIAR initiative focused on climate change, agriculture and food security) are interesting. They feel overly scripted and a bit contrived (hasn't the Sahara been shifting back and forth for centuries, even before it had any help from us?), but nevertheless provide some anecdotal illustrations of what agriculture looks like when temperature varies by two degrees. There is a lot of adaptation (e.g. growing trees to shade coffee plants) and also some shift to livestock cultivation as hotter temperatures make land more arid and marginal. Maybe the latter is another sign that we should all just go paleo...

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