Description

In this section we are going to compare our model with three others: the USDA cold hardiness zones; the very widely encountered Koppen (or Koppen-Geiger) classifications; and the seemingly little used but not unimportant Holdridge life zones. Each of these have their own formulations and describe different aspects of climate. The hardiness zones are based on the mean minimum or average lowest temperature of the year, the purpose of which is to define the coldest range of temperatures within which a species or certain of its varieties can survive. The Koppen model mainly describes the earth’s climate according to ranges and seasonality of temperature and precipitation and the Holdridge model, the earth’s life zones, that is, its major natural vegetation zones in terms of climate.

Our model is different because it not only describes climates in terms of the natural vegetation or as “life zones” but also in the very practical terms or as it relates to everyday life, hence, as “living zones”. As such we named our model the “life and living zones” or L & L system for short, emphasizing both aspects. To a certain extent the L & L system can be seen as a combination of these other systems, absorbing their best parts and lessons to form a single, uniform “language” of climate classification. To those readers at all familiar with these other systems, they should find our new formulations to be much simpler yet at the same time much more versatile in their use and much more precise.

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