One of the more dire predictions of the consequences of climate change came from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) a few months ago: The giant Burmese python currently wreaking havoc in the Florida Everglades could find itself "comfortable" in as much as a third of the nation once temperatures rise as projected.
A new study using a different computer model released this week suggests otherwise. Climate change will actually seriously impact the current range of the reptile in the U.S., confining it to the swampy southern fringe of Florida.
Copyright © 2010 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
What a shocker. I suppose it goes without saying that an economist would have some healthy skepticism about predictive computer models.
I'm betting on the python. It should be able to live anywhere an alligator does, and that should be over much of the southeast USA.
I am shocked that one computer model would disagree with another! Perhaps we should be a little slower to be alarmed by modelled predictions...