
Vegetation is expanding at high altitudes in the Himalayas - happy-go-lucky
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51050456
======
chrisco255
Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds:

[https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-
fer...](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-
fertilization-greening-earth)

------
slumdev
Most coffee is grown well above sea level. If other organisms start creeping
into higher altitudes, we could be in for a rough ride.

~~~
jngreenlee
Fortunately synthetics are coming online. This is the new world:
[https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1214186103931932672](https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1214186103931932672)

At least it preps us for space survival as well...without instant folgers
packs...?

~~~
slumdev
I have concerns about this. From their website
[https://atomocoffee.com/formulation](https://atomocoffee.com/formulation)

> By evaluating the individual compounds in coffee we were able to map the
> most significant ones contributing to the characteristic aroma and flavor of
> coffee.

More and more, we're learning how micronutrients and chemicals that we
wouldn't even class as micronutrients are beneficial to human health. If
they've brought over only those compounds most significant for aroma and
flavor, what are we missing? I don't think it's alarmist to suggest that this
"coffee" might resemble the real thing as far as our senses are concerned, but
it might lack all of the health benefits of grows-on-a-tree coffee.

~~~
polynomial
People drink coffee for the health benefits? </s>

~~~
irrational
I don't think you need the sarcasm tag. Most people seem to use it as a drug
to get them going in the morning and on through the day. I usually hear people
complaining about how they wish they didn't need to drink so much to get
through each day. Then again, I live in a region where it is cloudy much of
the year, so it does seem to help with the lack of sunlight.

~~~
0x8BADF00D
Why stop at coffee? Why not ingest nicotine everyday? Or amphetamine salts?
Caffeine is still a drug. The health benefits are minor at best, in that it
will reduce insulin resistance. But any stimulant will do that, because it
elevates your basal metabolic rate.

------
mirimir
This is not at all surprising. It's happening in central Mexico too. But
there, it's desert that's moving up.

Generally, moving inland, poleward, and up are the options.

------
serverQuestion
Good news everyone, we are gaining new green spaces!

~~~
pvaldes
> Good news everyone, we are gaining new green spaces!

Is not so simple, sadly. This is a well known ecological problem. A huge
problem.

Big mountains have lots of endemic flowers that evolved for standing very high
and cold places and growing very slow. Now they are being pushed literally
towards the top of the mountain. They can't compete with the other plants in
warmer places.

Eventually the entire mountain will go out of their ecological range in the
same way as an island that is being slowly sinked in the sea. At this moment
the entire ecosystem and thousands of unique species will go extinct. And is
happening at a worlwide scale, all at the same time. Himalayan plants could
survive but most mountains do not have a upper level devoid of life.

This species specially adapted to stand really harsh places could be sorely
missed in the future if we want to terraform other planets

------
cs702
Inevitably, reading this makes me think of the well-known quote by Jeff
Goldlum's character, Dr. Ian Malcolm, in Jurassic Park:

"life finds a way."

~~~
revscat
Sometimes Dr. Malcolm is wrong, though. Sometimes life doesn’t find a way.

Sometimes there are mass extinctions.

~~~
Pfhreak
Life, in aggregate, still finds a way. Mass extinctions bring down a lot of
life but not all of it.

~~~
amylene
Life, only on earth as far as we know, has previously found a way. Much less
catchy, much more accurate.

