The Future of Northern Europe

Right now the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris has just finished and there have been decisions reached. The consensus of the summit is to peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as it is possible and to achieve a balance between sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century, to keep global temperature increase "well below" 2C (3.6F) and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C, the progress will be reviewed every five years and there will be $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries and a commitment to further finance in the future.

Although this decision by the Summit affects 196 countries not just Northern Europe if it is carried through with it could have long term positive environmental effects for the world at large including Northern Europe. Although the deal isn’t perfect it is still the first pact to commit all countries to cut carbon emissions. Although the future of Northern Europe is still uncertain resent developments like this one may help to protect the future of this region or at least be a step in the right direction for future change. 

http://www.dvd-ppt-slideshow.com/blog/download-the-free-european-landscape-desktop-wallpapers/

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthpicturegalleries/7657997/Wild-Wonders-of-Europe-a-new-book-featuring-pictures-of-European-wildlife-and-landscape.html?image=8

http://www.livescience.com/25124-winter.html

 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/02/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-paris-climate-summit-and-un-talks

 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35084374

Social and Political Dimensions of Climate Change in Northern Europe

 

The major concerns about the impact of climate change in Northern Europe are extreme heat events, increased coastal and river floods and significant reduction in water availability. There will be more forest fires and heat wave related deaths. There will also be billions of dollars lost in river floods, droughts and forest fires.

Europe for the most part is an example for the world in regards to instituting sound climate change policies. Such as the creating of European climate change program whose goal is to help identify the most environmentally effective and most cost-effective policies and measures that can be taken at European level to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Many countries are using renewable or clean energy too such as Sweden which is limiting there coal use, Finland who is using wind energy, Denmark who is planning to cut all fossil fuel use by 2050 and Austria which is harnessing energy from biomass.

 http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer-2015/europe/climate-change-impacts-and-adaptation

 http://www.activesustainability.com/top-5-countries-in-renewable-energy

The Geological History of Northern Europe

Precambrian -  There was crust formation and deformation during the Archean and Proterozoic periods.
Early Paleozoic - Was a time of tectonic stability.
Caledonian Orogeny - Was a time of major continental collision which lead to major mountain Building and sedimentation this was mostly across  Ireland, Wales, northern England, Scotland and Norway.
Variscan Orogeny - continental collision between Europe and Gondwana. It caused rock structure deformation across southernmost Ireland and England. 
Permian - Pangaea came into existence during this time. Europe was tectonically stable except for Norway.

The Pleistocene Epoch was 1.8 million years ago and is the most resent ice age where the continents moved to there current positions. During this time period Northern Europe was covered in ice sheets. They began to reside after the ice age.

http://www.donsmaps.com/icemaps.html

http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/struc_geo/euro_north/euro1.htm

http://www.livescience.com/40311-pleistocene-epoch.html

Climate of Northern Europe

The Gulf Stream tends to Keep Northern Europe warmer than other locations with similar latitudes. Winters are also longer and summers are cooler with cold heavy snowfall. Between winter and early spring average rain fall across Europe is 20 to 60 inches. There is significant snowfall in cold winters and cool summers in the northern Mountain Ranges.

http://www.europe-trips.eu/European-climate-weather-conditions.html

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/euweather.htm

   Introduction to Northern Europe 

 

 Northern Europe consists of the country's of Iceland, the Baltic States, the British Isles, Northern Germany, Scandinavia, , Finland, Northwest Russia and Greenland. As of 2015 the population of Northern Europe is about 101,477,000 people. Most people in Europe speak a Germanic, Romance, Baltic, Slavic or Nordic language. It is the most densely populated region of Europe.
    Europe is a peninsula on the Eurasian super continent. The arctic ocean is to the north of it and the Atlantic ocean is to the west of it. Most of Northern Europe is composed of coniferous forests it mostly has pine, spruce, and fir trees and there are many animals that live in this region such as moose, bear, and elk.  

 

 http://home.comcast.net/~kandcmadsen/NorthEuropeMap.jpg

 http://www.plazaholidays.com/plazaholidays2014/images/holidayimages/Italy/_Italy-Mountain-Municipa.jpg

 http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/europe-physical-geography/