donderdag 22 november 2007

Klimaatverandering 121


'Top 100 Ways Global Warming Will Change Your Life

by Center for American Progress
AlterNet
Say Goodbye to French Wines. Wacky temperatures and rain cycles brought on
by global warming are threatening something very important: Wine. Scientists
believe global warming will "shift viticultural regions toward the poles,
cooler coastal zones and higher elevations". What that means in regular
language: Get ready to say bye-bye to French Bordeaux and hello to British
champagne. [LA Times]

Say Goodbye to Light and Dry Wines. Warmer temperatures mean grapes in
California and France develop their sugars too quickly, well before their
other flavors. As a result, growers are forced to either (a) leave the
grapes on the vines longer, which dramatically raises the alcoholic content
of the fruit or (b) pick the grapes too soon and make overly sweet wine that
tastes like jam. [Washington Post]

Say Goodbye to Pinot Noir. The reason you adore pinot noir is that it comes
from a notoriously temperamental thin-skinned grape that thrives in cool
climates. Warmer temperatures are already damaging the pinots from Oregon,
"baking away" the grape's berry flavors. [Bloomberg]

Say Goodbye to Baseball. The future of the ash tree - from which all
baseball bats are made - is in danger of disappearing, thanks to a
combination of killer beetles and global warming. [NY Times]

Say Goodbye to Christmas Trees. The Pine Bark Beetle, which feeds on and
kills pine trees, used to be held in control by cold winter temperatures.
Now the species is thriving and killing off entire forests in British
Columbia, unchecked. [Seattle Post Intelligencer]

Say Goodbye to the Beautiful Alaska Vacation. Warmer weather allowed Spruce
Bark Beetles to live longer, hardier lives in the forests of Kenai Peninsula
in Alaska, where they killed off a section of spruce forest the size of
Connecticut. [Alaska Science Forum]

Say Goodbye to Fly Fishing. As water temperatures continue to rise,
researchers say rainbow trout, "already at the southern limits" of their
temperature ranges in the Appalachian mountains, could disappear there over
the next century. [Softpedia]'

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