Originally posted by TITAN_
The climate has always been changing.... It was never stable. |
Agreed, our planet is a living thing. It's in constant change. But for the last 5,000 years, the climate has been relatively stable.
However, it's not changed this rapidly before. 10 years ago Greenland"s agriculture was subsistance level only. They were just barely able to grow enough to feed themselves.
They now grow enough to become a food exporter. And have the potential to be a major food source for Northern Europe.
They started off growing cold weather crops. They announced this year that they will be exporting Strawberries in 2 years.
As the Greenland Ice pack continues to recede, more cropland is being reclaimed.
The projection is that in 20 years there will be no Greenland Ice Pack. That's rapid change, compared with normal Geologic time.
I worked in Horticulture most of my adult life. The US is divided into growing zones, 2 being the coldest, and 12 the hottest. NJ is in what was once zone 6. It's now divided into 6A and 6B.
30 years ago, you couldn't be sure that a plant rated for zone 7 the next warmest zone, would be hardy in zone 6. Not so now. Many plants previously hardy only in the warmer zones are being used as far north as zones 5 and 4.
In most cases it's not the plant adapting, it's the climate in those areas becoming milder and winters shorter.
In my studies of the Archaic People who inhabited my region, I've found that 4-6,000 bce, this area was sub tropical. It didn't freeze here, and it was exceptionally wet.
The area wasn't heavily wooded, most of it was similar to Savannah.
The climate change took place over a period of roughly 1500 years, by the time the Lenape arrived, these original peoples were gone. So were the grasslands that had been here. The region had become heavily wooded, hence the designation "woodland period". The region also had a "winter".
Consider the impact change such as that would have if it occurred over a very short time, like 50 years or less, and then hang on to your butt, as I believe that is the kind of shift we're going through now.