In this book recommended by Bo Ekman, Laurence C Smith foresees migration patterns caused by rapidly drying regions.
The World in 2050
A couple of months ago, I stumbled over a very interesting book, The World in 2050. It is authored by Laurence C Smith, a geographer professor of University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA.
Smith brings together a vast pattern of scientific evidence showing that climate change is pushing the world northbound. The dry areas north and south of the equator will be both pushed northward and southward. This means that south western United States, Spain, Italy, Greece will become dryer, perhaps even deserts. This will occur because the so called Hadley Cell will widen. The permanent high pressures will cover larger areas. This is thoroughly also discussed by Jim Lovelock for decades, also Jim Hansen has strongly underlined this development.
This means, according to Smith, that the world will migrate towards the north and what he described in his book is the world north of the 45th parallel. He sees these regions as the haven of human development in a foreseeable future.
The book is a good read and Smith is a good narrator. However, the weakest part of the book is his grasp of the human and political consequences of the sweeping changes that are embedded in the messages of so many parts of earth sciences.
If Smith is right in his conclusions, we will live in a much different world sooner than we think and definitely sooner than we would like.
Bo Ekman