Moving the Earth's Axis of Rotation

[ffutures]

Mists, fogs, cold rains, and other nuisances of the older civilization, have been abolished, for the pole of the earth has been tilted round so that an almost tropical climate prevails through the whole of England.

The Struggle for Empire - Introduction

Assuming that (a) you could change the earth's axis of rotation to any line through its centre of gravity without harmful side effects, (b) you wanted to give Britain a warm climate, and (C) you don't want to make the American or German climates much worse, where would you put the North and South poles? Technology available includes antigravity, force fields that can keep heat out, and apparently limitless powerful sources.

later Forgot to say that I'm trying to think of a way of doing it that doesn't make Alaska, Canada and New Zealand and Australia a lot colder. I forgot to mention that in the original post, for which my bad, but there's so much mineral wealth in Alaska that I suspect the Empire would be VERY reluctant to see it under an ice cap.

Also forgot to say that I'm thinking in terms of a Mediterranean climate for Britain, so 15 degrees further south (as suggested by dsample is probably about right.

timill has suggested putting the N. Pole somewhere in Siberia rather than Alaska, which works well with the history of the setting and a defeated Russian empire, that puts the S. Pole nearer the tip of S. America - again I can live with that, though I'll need to sit down with some maps and work it out properly. Before I go with that and start drawing maps etc. (or looking for something that will do the job for me) does anyone have any other suggestions?

Comments

[dsample.livejournal.com]

I'd tilt the Earth about 15 degrees, moving England down to about where Spain is. It keeps most of North America at about the same latitude. Alaska and the Yukon end up a bit farther north, but they're used to cold weather. Germany gets about the same climate upgrade as England, moving it down to about Italy's latitude.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much my first thought, but I'm trying to think of a way of doing it that doesn't make Alaska, Canada and New Zealand a lot colder. I forgot to mention that in the original post, for which my bad, but there's so much mineral wealth in Alaska that I suspect the Empire would be VERY reluctant to see it under an ice cap.

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

If they have asteroid mining, how much do they need to care about Alaska? Even if they do, wouldn't the mines be giant climate-controlled underground caverns and never mind how cold it is on top?

New Zealand, though, is a tricky one.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that they're into asteroid mining - planets have breathable air and the antigravity can apparently lift almost everything (e.g. there's a fleet of 200-gun flying battleships) so the asteroids probably just get used for target practice.

[dsample.livejournal.com]

How much do they care about central Africa?

Stick one of the poles in the middle of it, close to the equator, the other ends up in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Central Africa becomes like Antarctica, but the fringes should still be mostly habitable. The oil of Northern Africa and the Persian Gulf is just as accessible as Alaskan or Canadian oil is now. The mid Pacific becomes the new Arctic Ocean, most of Europe, Asia, North and South America, New Zealand and Australia end up with either temperate, or tropical climates, and you get a bunch of nice tropical archipelagos where Antarctica, Greenland, and Nunavut used to be.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Nice - it would certainly work for my purposes - totally screws up most ecosystems, but that was pretty much a given anyway...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

And there's all the big game hunting they can want on the other planets, I'd imagine, so losing Africa isn't that big a deal for the Empire...

[dsample.livejournal.com]

Or just transplant a breeding stock of elephants and whatever to game farms in North America (which will now be equatorial.)