North American forests will also suffer from a warming climate, the report says, and increases in wildfires, insect infestations and disease could cost wood and timber producers $1 billion to $2 billion by the end of the century.Discussions of solutions to reduce emissions often get sidetracked with complaints that solutions will cost too much. Unfortunately it is not a question of doing nothing and spending nothing versus spending a large sum of money to reduce emissions. It is more a question of spending a fixed amount to reduce emissions versus unknown extra costs do to warming.
The report also suggests that skiing and snowmobiling will suffer. The $27 billion snowmobiling industry is especially vulnerable because it is dependent on natural snowfall. By mid-century, the authors wrote, "a reliable snowmobile season disappears from most regions of eastern North America that currently have developed trail networks."
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