Russia the new promised land?

[PC2]

Only someone with absolutely no clue about Russia can make such a stupid, ignorant statement.

Visit Moscow. Or Saint-Petersburgh.

[URL="One of Europe’s largest mosques opens in Moscow"]https://www.rt.com/news/316327-moscow-mosque-largest-europe[URL]

Or some pictures from Kurban Bayram this year in Moscow.

[IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsOEWl9XYAAAWyY.jpg[IMG]

Moscow looks like a fucking 30's US China Town.

But Putin makes it clear that multiculturalism is not welcome? If not he needs to be replaced!

[WskyDK]

For the brain deficient;i.e. me, clathrate??

In short; warm temps release methane which leads to more warm temps leading to more methane released, a so called "gun" reaction because once the process starts, it can't be stopped.

There are theories that if the warming happens slow enough the rise in plant life could eat the excess Carson emissions

[Sunseeker]

Socio-economic reasons aside, what about all the Arable land it would open up?

It wouldn't. Vast swaths of Russia are permafrost. The land beneath that is shit. It's not like there's just a layer of ice sitting on top of the ground, as the water leaks into the ground it freezes, spreading out the soil until it is spongey, as part of this process it leeches out much, if not all of the nutrients from the soil. If you just melted the ice off, all you'd have is dirt with no topsoil (which is where you plant things).

[Bartumus22]

It wouldn't. Vast swaths of Russia are permafrost. The land beneath that is shit. It's not like there's just a layer of ice sitting on top of the ground, as the water leaks into the ground it freezes, spreading out the soil until it is spongey, as part of this process it leeches out much, if not all of the nutrients from the soil. If you just melted the ice off, all you'd have is dirt with no topsoil (which is where you plant things).

Damn. We are screwed then

[Shalcker]

But Putin makes it clear that multiculturalism is not welcome? If not he needs to be replaced!

We're practising Imperialism - that means all cultures are welcome as long as they are willing to be subservient to Empire, and have no major conflicts with dominant Imperial culture.

...but you got to earn your keep if you come as migrant, there are no handouts. Cannot find job? Cannot pay for work patent? Off you go to deportation.

[Rasulis]

This is from a tourist's perspective. Moscow and St. Petersburg were beautiful, and they were also some of the cleanest cities that I have seen in my travels. Comparable only to Singapore. I can’t think of a single metropolitan area/large city in the U.S. that come close to those two in term of cleanliness. Also, I know the economy is bad, but I didn’t see any homeless or panhandlers. Everything was in Cyrillic, so exploring on our own was tough. We did not feel unsafe though. The people were nice. Not many spoke English, but they were more than willing to spare their time to help us with directions.

[Shalcker]

Damn. We are screwed then

There is still a lot of land outside of permafrost areas that will be able to sustain agriculture at higher temperatures.

Here is more-or-less balanced translation of Russian article:

Russia is shrinking due to global warming – expert

Published in TASS, Nov 9, 2015, translation to English by New Cold War.org

NOVOSIBIRSK, Russia – Because of the melting of permafrost and erosion of the shorelines of Russia’s northern seas, Russia is losing some 500 square kilometers of territory annually, approximately the size of the European state of Andorra. Stopping this process is impossible says Dmitry Drozdov, Acting Director of the Institute of Earth Cryosphere, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. He is a doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences.

Why an eroding coast

Drozdov explains, “Each year, we are losing territory due to thawing permafrost in the coastal zone of northern seas equivalent in size to the territory of Andorra.”

“Shorelines in the south, too, are encroaching, but in the north they are being washed away much faster”

How does this happen? Waves wash over permafrost soil at the shorelines, transferring heat and precipitating the thawing of the ground. In the south, when the coast is eroded, sand accumulations act to “protect” the shore from further erosion. “Here, there is a lot of ice, up to 80 per cent, in soils. When it melts it leaves nothing and the waves move on to the next section of soil.”

The scientist says the rate of destruction of the northern coastline varies in different places from one or two to tens of meters per year. It depends on many factors, including the nature of the coastline, stormy conditions at sea and on the age of the adjoining sea ice cover.

Strengthening the northern shorelines as is done with southern seas is useless, stresses Drozdov, because the thawing doesn’t stop. “This process is natural and inevitable. Remember the legends about Sannikov Land [a phantom Arctic island popularized in the 19th century]? Today, few would suggest trying to find it because its beaches would be washed away and it would sit under meters of water. 150 years ago, it could have been an island where people may lived.”

Where else is melting permafrost

Permafrost in the Russian territory is divided into three zones –”islands” of permafrost melt, landscapes with pockets of melted permafrost, and solid ground. The boundaries between the zones of continuous and discontinuous permafrost liepass just north of Vorkuta and Salekhard, and south of Norilsk, Yakutsk and Anadyr. They are rapidly shifting to the north.

“At one of the sites of permafrost melt which our institution monitors, the border has moved 30 kilometers to the north in the past 40 years. That’s quite a lot,” he said.

Permafrost, he explained, begins to melt when heat accumulates at the surface in sufficient quantity to make significant change to the structure of the soil. Changing climate in recent decades has become a kind of “trigger” starting the process.

The consequences of permafrost thawing

Melting permafrost, explains Drozdov, will be accompanied by further warming, which will lead to new human activities on the territory. For example, with a climatic norm of one to two degrees warmer, the fertile lands of Stavropol and Krasnodar region will experience a shortage of water. Farmland will migrate north to the latitude of Voronezh (app 400 km south of Moscow).

“The Moscow region will begin to see more grasses. So it will become possible to raise cattle there.”

“The same applies to Western Siberia—the most favorable sites for agriculture will move 200 to 300 kilometers to the north.”

Another consequence of the melting of the permafrost is the contamination of groundwater, including the emergence of harmful bacteria in it, which is quite difficult to clean. Erosion of river banks will contribute to the contamination of water and an overall deterioration in the environment.

[May90]

Some areas in Russia have insane seasonal temperature variations. In Yakutia, winter temperatures can go below -60 C, while summer ones can go all the way up to +40 C. If you think adding a couple dozen Celsius will make Russia a nice place to be in, I would reconsider it.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Climate does not a country make. Plenty of countries have a lovely climate, but I wouldn't want to live in them due to various reasons.

[Independent voter]

So we reduce global warming by replacing gas guzzling automobiles with electric cars, the electricity generated from nuclear reactors. Or maybe wind or solar?

Not only does the climate not change but the Russians will lose out on all that oil money.

We need a politician to push reducing global warming through Congress because such a policy is good for the national defense.

[Deleted]

Russia will become a frozen hell hole once the thermohaline circulation stops and a new ice age starts happening. It'll take a while before we get to that point though

[May90]

So we reduce global warming by replacing gas guzzling automobiles with electric cars, the electricity generated from nuclear reactors. Or maybe wind or solar?

Not only does the climate not change but the Russians will lose out on all that oil money.

We need a politician to push reducing global warming through Congress because such a policy is good for the national defense.

Musk has the best plan: we go to Mars and don't have to deal with any of this! And by the time people start talking about global warming on Mars, we might find some other place...

[Mhorrg]

China are the first to take the gloves off with genetic and bio engineering, hence China will become the most powerful and prosperous country in the world sooner than later if other countries don't follow suit.

You're talking about a situation where a country's population becomes objectively biologically superior to the rest of us. Smarter, faster, stronger, healthier.

Do you really think the rest of us can compete with a country of a billion+ super humans?

Mark my words, we will see the first Chinese super human within the next decade or two.

[Sunseeker]

China are the first to take the gloves off with genetic and bio engineering, hence China will become the most powerful and prosperous country in the world sooner than later if other countries don't follow suit.

You're talking about a situation where a country's population becomes objectively biologically superior to the rest of us. Smarter, faster, stronger, healthier.

Do you really think the rest of us can compete with a country of a billion+ super humans?

Mark my words, we will see the first Chinese super human within the next decade or two.

Genetics isn't as simple as turning a dial "up" in every direction.

[Deleted]

Become like Ireland? You want miserable wet weather?!

Being from Louisiana, Id kill for Irish weather (not literally):P

[Mhorrg]

Genetics isn't as simple as turning a dial "up" in every direction.

Actually with CRISPR it is turning out genetics is a lot easier than we thought.

All they have to do is find the genes in other people and then use CRISPR to splice them in. So you find the smart guy, you find the fast guy, you find what makes them tick and you inject that into the rest of your population.

Every unassisted everest climber to ever live had the ACE gene, which is involved in blood oxygen regulation. We can use CRISPR to take that gene and splice it into everyone, giving everyone superior blood oxygen regulation.

[Elegiac]

Actually with CRISPR it is turning out genetics is a lot easier than we thought.

All they have to do is find the genes in other people and then use CRISPR to splice them in. So you find the smart guy, you find the fast guy, you find what makes them tick and you inject that into the rest of your population.

Every unassisted everest climber to ever live had the ACE gene, which is involved in blood oxygen regulation. We can use CRISPR to take that gene and splice it into everyone, giving everyone superior blood oxygen regulation.

Yes, and because of China's piss poor lack of quality assurance and ethics regulations we are probably going to see a slough of genetic problems arising from poor risk management.

[Mhorrg]

Yes, and because of China's piss poor lack of quality assurance and ethics regulations we are probably going to see a slough of genetic problems arising from poor risk management.

At first, sure. All new technologies have fuck ups and almost all new biotechs end up with people dying. But, with time, they'll improve on it and then improve on it more and with time they'll be swapping genes with the same expertise we currently swap hips.

The birth of the super human is inevitable. Whether it's genetics or cybernetics, the first super human will likely be born in our lifetime and if our countries don't begin working toward it the countries that do will surpass us.

The future is bright if we choose to embrace it, or it will be dark if we do not.

[Crispin]

China are the first to take the gloves off with genetic and bio engineering, hence China will become the most powerful and prosperous country in the world sooner than later if other countries don't follow suit.

You're talking about a situation where a country's population becomes objectively biologically superior to the rest of us. Smarter, faster, stronger, healthier.

Do you really think the rest of us can compete with a country of a billion+ super humans?

Mark my words, we will see the first Chinese super human within the next decade or two.

At our office, they had to put up instructions on how to use a toilet for the chinese employees, I wouldnt worry too much about chinese super humans anytime soon.

[Mhorrg]

At our office, they had to put up instructions on how to use a toilet for the chinese employees, I wouldnt worry too much about chinese super humans anytime soon.

That's just due to cultural differences. In many places in the world they use a squatting toilet, even in some fairly advanced Asian countries they still use squatting toilets.

Technically they're better for bowel movements and waste far less water. Remember, we evolved to shit squatting and a lot of problems like hemorrhoids, anal fissures, etc are due to us sitting while pooping.