Climate Change
OVERVIEW
Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of our time. It is an existential threat because it could make Earth completely uninhabitable for humans. Scientists have agreed that we need to limit global warming to 2°C (ideally 1.5°C), but there is currently a high chance that we will surpass 3°C. It is important to note that even the current level of climate change will exacerbate most other issues, such as hunger, poverty, and war.
DANGERS
- Climate change may make Earth uninhabitable
- Runaway effects mean that the effects of global warming may be unpredictable
- The ocean may reach its limit for how much heat it can store. The ocean has absorbed over 90% of the heat trapped by climate change since 1955, so this would dramatically increase the effects of global warming.
- Melting permafrost could create a feedback loop that makes global warming drastically worse
- More than 20% of the Earth could be too hot to live on by 2100
- The global mass extinction that is already underway will worsen
- There could be an increase in devastating heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, droughts, and more
- The U.S. could spend $35 billion on damages caused by climate change by 2050
- The average global income could be reduced by 23% by 2100 due to the effects of climate change
- Major cities like Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, and Los Angeles could be underwater by 2100. Rising sea levels could result in 2 billion climate refugees by 2100.
- The world may run out of chocolate by 2050 as it becomes too hot for cacao trees
CURRENT STATUS
- The fossil fuel industry is indirectly subsidized by more than $5 trillion every year
- Human-induced global warming has increased the earth’s temperature by 1.02°C
- The Paris Climate Agreement was created to limit human-induced global warming to 2°C
- There is a 5% probability that we limit global temperatures to 2°C
- Temperatures are predicted to rise 3.2C by 2100
- CO2 emissions, global temperatures, ice melt, and sea levels reached record highs in 2017
- We currently have all the technology we need to switch the world to 100% renewable energy by 2050
- Project Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming
