I know a number of Canadians who live in those less dense areas .(I grew up in MN, and sometimes went north to a chruch camp in Canada) there is a lot of room near the border for people.
There’s a lot of land in North Dakota as well. It’s super flat, boring, and winters are ultra cold and windy as hell. There are very good reasons it has a low population. It’s further south than most of the places in Canada you’re talking about.
EDIT: I’d like to add that “we’re not overpopulated, there’s plenty of land!” isn’t really the whole story, either. Occupying every square mile that can be occupied should not be a goal. Leaving more places in a natural state without human impact is highly desirable, IMO.
The population distribution is as much due to where things already are, and a lack of population, as it is to the climates we’re talking about. If it’s just about climate, why is Las Vegas the 25th largest city in the US? Why do people move there from the coasts or more temperate climates? Australia could absolutely make use of much, much more of its land mass. They just don’t have the population to support it, and they won’t in the near- to mid-term because of their incredibly restrictive immigration policies.
Canada is a much better example to support your point. Large swathes of that country’s land are absolutely inhospitable for most of a year. But that’s going to change as the temperate band moves or expands thanks to global warming. If you’re young enough, buy a cheap chunk of dirty ice next to a permafrost lake, and make bank in 25 years when it’s a tropical beachfront and everyone wants to live there :P
Canada and Australia are both very large counties with relatively small populations. They are in no way geographically constrained.
Huge areas of Canada are at high latitudes and very dark, cold, and inhospitable in the winter. Something like 50% of Canada’s population lives south of the northern extent of the US (i.e. south of Seattle, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, half of MN, and almost all of MT/ND.
https://www.secretmuseum.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/canada-population-density-map-this-is-how-empty-canada-really-is-photos-huffpost-canada-of-canada-population-density-map.gif
Huge areas of Australia are desert.
The population distribution of Canada and Australia is not an accident. The coasts and more temperate climates are much more hospitable.
I know a number of Canadians who live in those less dense areas .(I grew up in MN, and sometimes went north to a chruch camp in Canada) there is a lot of room near the border for people.
There’s a lot of land in North Dakota as well. It’s super flat, boring, and winters are ultra cold and windy as hell. There are very good reasons it has a low population. It’s further south than most of the places in Canada you’re talking about.
EDIT: I’d like to add that “we’re not overpopulated, there’s plenty of land!” isn’t really the whole story, either. Occupying every square mile that can be occupied should not be a goal. Leaving more places in a natural state without human impact is highly desirable, IMO.
The population distribution is as much due to where things already are, and a lack of population, as it is to the climates we’re talking about. If it’s just about climate, why is Las Vegas the 25th largest city in the US? Why do people move there from the coasts or more temperate climates? Australia could absolutely make use of much, much more of its land mass. They just don’t have the population to support it, and they won’t in the near- to mid-term because of their incredibly restrictive immigration policies.
Canada is a much better example to support your point. Large swathes of that country’s land are absolutely inhospitable for most of a year. But that’s going to change as the temperate band moves or expands thanks to global warming. If you’re young enough, buy a cheap chunk of dirty ice next to a permafrost lake, and make bank in 25 years when it’s a tropical beachfront and everyone wants to live there :P