The end is nigh! We’re all doomed! If only we had listened to Captain Planet in the 90’s!
Alright, maybe we aren’t quite doomed and we were just looking for an excuse to type that. But there are certainly grounds for concern even if there has been progress international with initiatives such as the IPCC.
So, because there’s nothing quite like a bit of scaremongering, here’s our list of five horrible scenarios that might come about if we, as a species, don’t get this thing sorted out.
Floods
In recent decades increasing global temperatures have been disastrous for ice sheets across the planet. In the Arctic, ice coverage is at record lows during the summer months and great sheets of ice have been reported breaking off from Antarctica.
All this freshly released water needs to go somewhere and cities and towns on the coast could be faced with a truly devastating rise in sea levels forcing them to be abandoned. At risk include New York, London, Paris, Dubai and Singapore to name just some of the many global cities that might end up underwater.
Drought
Coincidently, while there might be more water in the ocean, higher temperatures mean less of it is likely to get where it is needed. Given that nearly every ecosystem on earth requires water to exist widespread drought is likely to be cataclysmic to human populations as warmer areas become deserts and unable to support natural plants and fauna, to say nothing of humans.
Though it is disputed how much of it is down to global warming, the growth of the massive Sahara desert in Africa by 1.5 million hectares a year is surely a troubling thought.
Pollution
All those factories, cars, airplanes and other things belching gases into the air aren’t just heating up the world – in many cases they are actively poisonous and dangerous to human and animal life. Many modern metropolises suffer from smog warnings when the air pollution gets so bad that it is hazardous for people to go outside. These pollutants can cause all manner of diseases and breathing difficulties.
Ice Age
Geological evidence has shown that the Earth has gone through a series of warm and cold periods when the planet was very much warmer and/or cooler than it is today. The risk here then is that apocalyptic climate change threatens to boot the Earth into a new Ice Age, covering most of the planet in snow and Ice.
Given that Antarctica is not exactly known for its bounteous farmland, it isn’t hard to see how this could be cataclysmic for any humans living through it trying to grow anything on the frozen soil.
War
It’s a depressing truth that humanity, as a species, is rather fond of warfare. Notable pacifists aside, it seems we’ll use any excuse to pick a fight with our neighbours. We’ve fought over gods, oil, gold and even pretty faces a few times.
When water and food become more precious than all of the above, it seems depressingly logical to think that the response from some parties will be violence. Thought perhaps a course in conflict resolution or anger management might be useful before it gets that far.
