The US has an exceptionally good position in terms of geography basically.
Two oceans, tons of very fertile land, enough of it nothernly that it will still be viable with work under the conditions of climate change. That and the country is big enough, and spans enough climates that though parts of it like the southwest and parts of the south will become brutal and deadly in summer, there’s still huge amounts of it for the amount of people that live within the borders far north of that in safer areas. Add on no real desertification problems, fairly plentiful water from rivers replenished by snowpacks (yes it’s not enough for all the capitalist greed but it’s still a lot). And many other factors and I’ve read (not a climate expert) in multiple places that the US is kind of uniquely well situated to suffer among the least from climate change (more landmass immune to natural disasters brought on by it, lower risk of famine or crop failure sufficient to truly cause mass starvation or want, plentiful fresh water, plentiful fertile top-soil, and fewer climate refugees and more easily controlled thanks to only the southern Mexican border being relevant).
China by contrast even without climate change has large amounts of desert, not as much high quality fertile soil areas with water access compared to the amount in the US (they’re a big importer of food from the US while the US is a huge food exporter to China and many other places). They’re in a latitude that’s closer to the equator and so more vulnerable to extreme heat in summers through most of their land. Add on the fact that large parts of China given their location are more vulnerable to high humidity and the danger of regions there hitting wet bulb temperature is higher than in most of the US outside of Louisiana and the rest of the immediate gulf area plus Florida. They’re combating desertification but it is still something they have to contend with, that is a large amount of their land is part of or borders a desert, the regions that don’t which are more amenable to growing are more concentrated by the sea so more vulnerable to extreme storms, typhoons, flooding events, and the aforementioned wet bulb.
Most of northern China, is low lying flat lands. A rise in sea levels of 50 feet will see most of the Central Valley plains region being completely submerged. The increase of temperature that would make the American southwest uninhabitable applies to pretty much everywhere south of the Yangtze. Add on to the rise of climate refugees as well.
Wait, how come the USA will be less hit than China in the future due to climate change?
The US has an exceptionally good position in terms of geography basically.
Two oceans, tons of very fertile land, enough of it nothernly that it will still be viable with work under the conditions of climate change. That and the country is big enough, and spans enough climates that though parts of it like the southwest and parts of the south will become brutal and deadly in summer, there’s still huge amounts of it for the amount of people that live within the borders far north of that in safer areas. Add on no real desertification problems, fairly plentiful water from rivers replenished by snowpacks (yes it’s not enough for all the capitalist greed but it’s still a lot). And many other factors and I’ve read (not a climate expert) in multiple places that the US is kind of uniquely well situated to suffer among the least from climate change (more landmass immune to natural disasters brought on by it, lower risk of famine or crop failure sufficient to truly cause mass starvation or want, plentiful fresh water, plentiful fertile top-soil, and fewer climate refugees and more easily controlled thanks to only the southern Mexican border being relevant).
China by contrast even without climate change has large amounts of desert, not as much high quality fertile soil areas with water access compared to the amount in the US (they’re a big importer of food from the US while the US is a huge food exporter to China and many other places). They’re in a latitude that’s closer to the equator and so more vulnerable to extreme heat in summers through most of their land. Add on the fact that large parts of China given their location are more vulnerable to high humidity and the danger of regions there hitting wet bulb temperature is higher than in most of the US outside of Louisiana and the rest of the immediate gulf area plus Florida. They’re combating desertification but it is still something they have to contend with, that is a large amount of their land is part of or borders a desert, the regions that don’t which are more amenable to growing are more concentrated by the sea so more vulnerable to extreme storms, typhoons, flooding events, and the aforementioned wet bulb.
Most of northern China, is low lying flat lands. A rise in sea levels of 50 feet will see most of the Central Valley plains region being completely submerged. The increase of temperature that would make the American southwest uninhabitable applies to pretty much everywhere south of the Yangtze. Add on to the rise of climate refugees as well.