Temporate, rainforest, tropical, and problems

[Key'ìl Nekxetse]

We seem to have stalled on choosing a location.
So far the decision seems to point towards rainforest or tropical areas.
During the process of doing research into these areas I've highlighted some of the less desirable aspects of these places. A few people have voiced concern about this. I'm worried that we may be planning on going somewhere where there will be unexpected problems and life will become unpleasant.
Discussion on the Revolutionists seems to have been around a sub-tropical, or perhaps temperate area. This is partly for the reasons that I have mentioned, and I think we have to discuss these issues.

Rainforest:
+Stable climate, temperatures often around 20 C
+Food sources likely to be always available
+Large amounts of water from rain.
+Lots of wood, animals and plants
-Many dangerous animals and plants
-Weather likely to be unpleasant for some (hot+humid)
-Unfamiliar to most

Temperate forest:
+Reasonable amounts of food
+Water can be found in streams and rivers
+Pleasant weather in summer
+Lots of wood
+Not many dangerous animals and plants
+Familiar
-Unpleasant weather in winter
-Weather can be unpredictable
-Less food available
-Food must be stored for winter

I think a temperate forest might provide a familiar location, as there are small woods in many places that people may have seen. None of us have been anywhere near a rainforest (probably?).

What does everyone think? I want to get this matter discussed as it is becoming a show stopping delay!

[Maweya Hufwe]

I do agree that the easiest to adapt to would be temperate forests, especially since large amounts of rain can be a bear to deal with, drown large amounts of farming, and possibly increase sickness, even more so for the young and elderly. Plus, farming would be better in the more moderate temperate woods, provided a couple good clearings. Also, I believe temperate forest areas are more likely easier to come by and easier to purchase.

To be more specific, I think Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests would be the best outlook. All seasons are felt yet aren't overly extreme, good variety of trees and wild herbs, and the trees are generally deciduous which while leaving most of the trees bare in the winter, it enriches the soil with decomposed leaves.

[Key'ìl Nekxetse]

Mixed would be useful, as pine trees can provide some very useful resources; resin, pine needles and bark. They also provide some shelter in winter as they keep their leaves.
All pine, however, would be a problem as dense pine forest tends to eliminate other plants.

[Predict]

Right now we are proceeding with the aim to find somewhere in the tropics to subtropics so I wouldn't be too concerned. Personally I am almost certain we will locate in the sub-tropical region, it really is the best of both worlds.

This topic is a perfect example of where a bit of a more organized front-end (so to speak) for the tribe would help, we have about 2 months ago conducted good preliminary research and through two polls found that there was a strong majority in favour of the tropics to subtropics. More recent development would seem to indicate that opinions have shifted towards the subtropical, largely because of the more tolerable rainfall and presence of fewer (horrific) diseases so this has already been covered pretty well.

Like you said once you move to temperate forests we must face a far harsher winter and a less stable climate, a point often neglected. The 'other' location always looks better but I think we'd be better sticking it with the subtropics for now. We also had good representation in the polls by many of our less active members.

Hope that didn't come across a bit rude , it's a bit hard to judge typing at 10:30.

[Key'ìl Nekxetse]

I found some maps of temperate/tropical forest:

Spoiler

I also found this map for Google Earth:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/geography/research/emm/geodata/trees.html

[Tsyal Maktoyu]

Right now we are proceeding with the aim to find somewhere in the tropics to subtropics so I wouldn't be too concerned. Personally I am almost certain we will locate in the sub-tropical region, it really is the best of both worlds.

This topic is a perfect example of where a bit of a more organized front-end (so to speak) for the tribe would help, we have about 2 months ago conducted good preliminary research and through two polls found that there was a strong majority in favour of the tropics to subtropics. More recent development would seem to indicate that opinions have shifted towards the subtropical, largely because of the more tolerable rainfall and presence of fewer (horrific) diseases so this has already been covered pretty well.

Like you said once you move to temperate forests we must face a far harsher winter and a less stable climate, a point often neglected. The 'other' location always looks better but I think we'd be better sticking it with the subtropics for now. We also had good representation in the polls by many of our less active members.

Hope that didn't come across a bit rude , it's a bit hard to judge typing at 10:30.

This.

I agree that a subtropical forest really does seem like the best option when the dangers/benefits are weighed. One needs to remember that there's always going to be some level of danger when attempting to live in the wild, and subtropical broadleaf forest seems like the best compromise. Dangers tend to increase as one approaches either end of the spectrum; fully tropical climates have a greater danger of disease and flooding from excess rainfall, while at the same time temperate climates tend to have harsh winters (and a bad case of forstbite or hypothermia can be just as fatal as a tropical bug ). Plus either one (excess rainfall or harsh winter) increases the chance of crop failure.

Even though we probably won't be living there, I think Kaua'i - one of Hawaii's subtropical islands - would be a good model for the kind of climate we should look for. Average temps are in the 80s, localized weather patterns, and low risk in terms of tropical diseases (thanks for adding that, Key'ìl Nekxetse ). Here's the Revolutionist wiki page for it.

http://revolutionists.aurora-glacialis.de/wiki/index.php/Kauai

The only thing I worry about is how much land like this is still available around the world.

[Predict]

To sum it up: Tropical faces disease, Temperate faces harsh winters and there's little available land in the middle. Islands really are the best example, there's extremely limited land but the climate's great and disease minimal.

The way I see it if we look subtropical there will be less available land but if we move to either extreme you don't really want the land anyway. We trade environmental problems for economic ones, the difference is that economic problems don't kill you.

Edit: Kauai does look like an ideal location, of course being a Hawaiian island, I expect land prices to be shock-inducing. 

[Yeynari]

If you're going to be anywhere near hunter-gatherers, you might want to look into game density as well. Islands usually have very little native game, in other places they may be endangered and illegal to hunt.