Irrespective of the climate deniers, Planet Earth is heading toward catastrophic warming which is borne out by the United Nation’s 2023 Climate Change Report. A massive amount of research from the leading climate scientists all over the world (then reviewed by delegates from almost 200 countries), have come to a unanimous and frightening conclusion. They warn us: “the world is likely to pass a dangerous temperature tipping point within the next 10 years unless nations immediately transition away from fossil fuels. If governments stick with their current policies, the remaining "carbon budget" will be wiped out by 2030.”
By 2070, less than fifty years from now, a third of the world’s population may be living in a climate like the Sahara Desert with average yearly temperatures above 29ºC (84.2ºF) and almost twenty percent of Earth’s land area will reach these temperatures! Now, 84.2ºF may not seem too bad. I mean, here in Miami, that’s a great temperature for a day at the beach. But that’s an average temperature for 365 days. That’s hot. I have never been to the Sahara Desert, but I have seen many programs depicting its heat. Humanity already has a well-defined temperature comfort range which is way below 29ºC! This forecast means that almost 3.5 billion people may be living in an area that is outside of humanity’s comfort zone. Humanity has learned to live within a narrow band of climate changes, and the average annual temperature for the last 6,000 years has been around 13ºC (55.4ºF).
Getting back to that 29ºC figure, most people on Earth live in areas having average annual temperatures between 11ºC (51.8ºF) and 15ºC (59ºF). “Researchers and scientists have consistently reiterated that all species have an environmental niche and will be unlikely to function normally outside that niche.” This also means that our various food production systems for crops, livestock, water, etc., “were developed, discovered, and designed within those constraints.” The result will be that “[g]lobal warming will affect ecosystems as well as human health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, and economic growth in many ways.”
References:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-predictions-2070
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/temperature-climate-change-greenhouse-gas-niche-emissions-hot/
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/time-lapse-photography-of-clouds-268870/
