Swiss Ministries' Report Predicts Nation Will Warm Swiftly, Face Drought, Heatwaves - AFP

[hatrack]

Switzerland will suffer regular heatwaves and drought by 2050 as average temperatures rise swiftly and disrupt living patterns in the heart of Europe, a report predicted Wednesday. The report commissioned by the interior and environment ministries forecast that average temperatures in the Alpine country would rise by at least 2.0 degrees Celsius (35.6 F) in summer and 3.0 degrees C in winter by 2050.
Measures to cut carbon emissions will have little impact on climate change by then, the report by the Swiss ministerial consultative body on climate change said.

The Swiss global warming estimates are in the middle of the range of new global average temperatures for the end of the century forecast by a panel of UN climate change scientists, but are expected to occur earlier.

Rainfall in Switzerland will drop by about one-fifth during summer by the middle of the century, sharply reducing water availability through to the autumn, the report said. It predicted that agriculture would be affected by the sharp shift in the climate, prompting crop changes, and power supplies will falter. A large proportion of Switzerland's electricity is supplied by hydroelectric dams in the mountains.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_Change_Will_Heat_Switzerland_Swiftly_999.html

[phantom power]

1. Is there a native american dance for a THC shutdown?

Or druid ritual? We could conduct it at stonehenge.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. There's a sort of dance...

What you do is get a SUV and drive round and round in circles for 50 years, chanting "We're number one! We're number one!"

Seems to do the trick.

[phantom power]

3. I wonder...

I've entertained a little nightmare scenario in my head, which my recent viewing of AIC brought back. Going back 650 kiloyears, we see that the younger-dryas events all occurred when CO2 concentrations were <= 300ppm. Today, it's 390 and climbing fast.

What if the THC shuts down, but the GHGs prevent any restoration of snowpack or glaciation? What if the warming doesn't stop? Somebody posted a scenario like that last year: +15F at the equator, +70F at the poles.

[Dead_Parrot]

4. I think that's were we're headed: P-T redux

The GHGs will get sucked out eventually by geologic processes, but it may take a while - The planet wasn't "cool" again after the P-T event for around 75 million years.

With my Helmet o' Doom firmly in place, I think we are going to burn nearly all the coal, gas and oil, and melt nearly all the clathrates, and send the remaining forests up in smoke, for a triple combo deal that makes the K-T look like a sunny afternoon in London Zoo, with ice-cream.

The worst bit will be when agriculture breaks down to the point where you can longer grow crops for beer. That's gonna be a tough year. :(

[phantom power]

5. Oh god. Peak Beer.

No, no, no, this cannot be happening.
:puke:

[phantom power]

6. Holy shit. You realize what this means, don't you?

we are all going to endure the end of the world sober.

Oh god, how could I have been such a pollyanna? How did I not see this coming???

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Speak for yourself

As soon as it gets hot & dry enough, I'm going to plant a shitload of agave and watch the end of the world through a mezcal-induced haze. Happy days... :toast:

[phantom power]

9. Hmm. Tequila is not beer. But it's not sober either...

:toast:

[Dead_Parrot]

10. The trick is, to save a six-pack until you're ready to start on it...

I noticed, when you're half drunk, you don't really care what the next drink is. :) :beer:

So long as I'm comfortably numb, I won't care too much.

[GliderGuider]

7. Well, there's an ancient saying:

THC will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no THC.

That sort of applies to this kind of THC too...