One of the issues with looking at the impacts of a warmer climate is that not all areas will be equally affected by the changes in temperature. Some areas are likely to be losers, with more negative impacts, while others might benefit from a longer growing season, less frost and warmer temperatures. But the warmer temperatures also have unexpected costs, like the loss of infrastructure like roads, buildings and harbors with the loss of permafrost and higher sea levels, so the net benefit isn’t always so easy to determine.
The Observer has a long article this week on changing climate’s impact on Canada; it shows that even though Canada’s agriculture and economy will benefit in some ways from warmer and (most likely) wetter conditions, there are also costs involved that are difficult to quantify. Part of the problem is that average temperature alone does not really describe the practical impacts of a changing climate, like extremes in temperature, impacts on soils and ecosystems, and water availability. You can read it at https://observer.com/2016/03/the-gentle-giants-climate-problem/.
