The mixed effects of climate change

The effects of climate change will vary across the world - for example, crudely speaking, agriculture in Canada and Russia will benefit, and agriculture in the tropics will suffer. These differences also occur on a smaller scale:

But here in Ohio, Sohngen admits, most of the economy is “not climate sensitive.” And the Buckeye State is actually a half-degree to a full degree below the optimum climate temperature for agriculture.

“We can gain from a little bit of warming,” Sohngen said at the Review.

It is already very hard to pass climate change legislation; it is even harder to mount the argument when the negative consequences are not directionally clear for a given constituency.