This is why I think mild, warm temperatures are superior to cold and freezing temperatures: (day, places)

[Asagi]

Snow looks nice when you can enjoy it by the beach in a hammock between the palm trees drinking a cold drink on an 80 degree day IMO...

[jp03]

Originally Posted by MrMarbles

Why do we have to choose between extremes? I don't particularly enjoy freezing cold weather (although I don't mind it as long as it doesn't last more than 2-3 months). Nor do I like hot, muggy weather.

exactly Mr. M. Just because I say I hate extremr heat people assume i love extreme cold.. WRONG.!!

[tdna]

Originally Posted by Asagi

But if it never froze plants wouldn't need protection.

But it does freeze. If you want to make up a fantasy planet, there are myriad things you could make unnecessary or nonexistent. However, if you're having a discussion rooted in reality, saying that cold and snow are not necessary is just false.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by Thepastpresentandfuture

So I just objectively proved how warm, hot, and mild temperatures are superior to cold and freezing temperatures for humans and for this planet.

What about those who suffer and die from Hyperthermia/heat stroke?

Age Page: Hyperthermia: Too Hot for Your Health (http://www.nia.nih.gov/healthinformation/publications/hyperthermia.htm - broken link)

[lpfan921]

Originally Posted by MrMarbles

Except that there are very few places in the US that are "warm and pleasant most of the year".

And the few places that are like this are WAY out of my price range! Most are in California or Hawaii.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by Thepastpresentandfuture

Well then if 98 degrees is someone's body temperature, then technically the ideal temperatures seems to be in the 65 degrees to 98 degrees range and it shows that humans are warm blooded and need warm temperatures to support themselves much more than cold temperatures.

If it is below 50 degrees, someone can get a fever, flu,and cold if they don't have layers of clothing on. If it is below 40 degrees and someone doesn't cover themselves up with layers they can die of hyperthermia, or frostbite.

Also, agriculture(where all the food is originally grown) needs mild and warm temperatures. Cold freezing temperatures kills agriculture and doesnt allow agriculture to exist. Also mild and warm temperatures are needed for plants of all types to exist such as trees.

And look at this way, if you had to pick mild/warm/hot year round vs cold year round what is superior? If it is 65 degrees to 98 degrees year round or if it is 40 degrees or colder year round?

Last time I checked billions of people live in tropical regions of the world while the north and south poles and arctic places like that nobody really lives there and they are uninhabitable.

So I just proved to you how warm, hot, and mild temperatures are superior to cold and freezing temperatures for humans and for this planet.

Obviously, it is also ok if a place gets freezing cold temperatures for 6 months or less of the year as long as they have at least 2 months where it gets mild, warm, or hot. And plus, I like snow on top of mountainous terrain and snow can look great.

I am just saying how mild, warm, and hot temperatures are needed for human life to exist and for the world to exist.
Cold and freezing weather isn't nearly as needed and not even needed at all.

So I just objectively proved how warm, hot, and mild temperatures are superior to cold and freezing temperatures for humans and for this planet.

Seems to reason people would live where they can grow food and have plentiful clean water supplies.

[sunnyandcloudydays]

Originally Posted by MrMarbles

Why do we have to choose between extremes? I don't particularly enjoy freezing cold weather (although I don't mind it as long as it doesn't last more than 2-3 months). Nor do I like hot, muggy weather.

I am with you
either extreme is way too much
the older i get the more i enjoy a 50-60 daytime high
with a mild winter say in the mid 20s or 30s

summers anything above 84 i cant stand

[deneb78]

I wonder if coconuts or mangoes would benefit from having snow cover to protect them from freezing in the winter

[Trimac20]

It's nothing we don't know, who truly prefers frigid cold weather to cold conditions? It's obvious rainforests and tropical coral reefs support the highest bio-diversity in the world, so obviously warm, moist climates are conducive to life.

While we began as tropical animals we have adapted to the colder regions through tools, clothing and civilisation. Temperate areas DO have benefits in terms of human civilisations, as the most fertile soil, favourable topography and seasonal conditions exist here. The soil in the rainforest is actually pretty useless for growing most crops, another reason why it should be left alone. That's why the world's great civilisations grew up in places like the Euphrates, Indus, Huang He; the greater river systems of the world in the sub-tropical and temperate zones. Tropical nations are 'backward' because the climate isn't so conducive to agriculture and thus civilisation.

I myself strongly prefer temperatures in the mild/warm end of the scale, and having lived in a climate where frosts are rare and snow unknown, would be loathe to relocate to anywhere where winters are on average lower than 0C (32F). To me anywhere that requires me to don more than 3 layers or wear polar fleece type clothing is 'extreme', let alone those extremes of -20C that I can't imagine. 40C (104F)? It's a little uncomfy but it's nothing, I'm so used to it. Unless you stay out for days without hydration it won't kill you either. Give me hot over cold anyday.

[Stumbler.]

Originally Posted by tdna

I think people like the Inuit and species like polar bears might disagree that snow, ice and cold are not really necessary.

80% of the earth's fresh water is stored in ice and snow. Where I live, we get lots of snow in the winter, but have very little rain. The water stored in the deep snow pack is critical. Without it, there would be no water to irrigate crops, which is a necessity due to the lack of rain, so agriculture would come to a halt. This would not only have local repercussions, it would affect the food chain, as this state is a major producer. During low snow years lakes, rivers and streams dry up because there is not the melt water needed to sustain them. Drinking water supplies are also impacted.

Originally Posted by Trimac20

That's why the world's great civilisations grew up in places like the Euphrates, Indus, Huang He; the greater river systems of the world in the sub-tropical and temperate zones.

While I'm not that big of a fan of snow (have had enough of it in my life, thank you very much), I do know about the importance of the snow melt in sustaining many of the rivers that feed agriculture, and thus our society.

The early river civilizations of the world (Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China) all seem to have some reliance on spring snow melt from their source in cold and temperate highland climates (the Nile from the Ethiopian highlands, the Tigris-Euphrates from the mountains of eastern Turkey, and the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau's snowmelt feeding the rivers (Ganges, Indus, Yangtze, Yellow) that flow into the two currently largest countries in the world).

I know the monsoon in the case of India/China (which is thanks to the tropical influence, not temperate) is pretty much responsible for feeding the crops (being the world's most productive wet season, it probably allowed their populations to get so big/dense in the first place), but I have heard that the snow melt from the mountains above is also quite important for sustaining a steady flow (ie. when the monsoons fail or are unreliable) though I don't know about the relative contributions of either.