Ben See Profile picture
Aug 10, 2019 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Earth is rapidly being transformed into a desert planet with catastrophic consequences for most living things.

[THREAD]
4 - 5 billion people, most of them already living in poverty, will see their habitats undergo an acutely challenging transformation as we head rapidly to an extremely dangerous 2.5°C world of year long droughts and food shortages due to locked in warming and climate feedbacks.
Desertification - the greatest threat.

Land degradation of dry lands:

North and southern Africa, western North America, Australia, the Middle East & Central Asia. Drylands are home to 2.7 billion people – 90% of whom live in developing countries'carbonbrief.org/explainer-dese…
Aridification will emerge over ~25% of Earth's land surface.

Areas most affected: SE Asia, S. Europe, S. Africa, Central America and Southern Australia - home to more than 1.5 billion people. Areas would become more arid; droughts & wildfires widespread.
dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ar…
We're hurtling into 'climate states without societal precedent, challenging adaptation', a world where 'climates like those of the Pliocene will prevail as soon as 2030'.

2. 5°C by 2030: to a climate 'outside the range of evolutionary adaptive capacity'?

The implications are clear.

Surviving decently (or at all) in a world of rapidly escalating extreme water stress/scarcity & mega-drought food shortages is quickly going to become exceedingly difficult for billions of people.

See thread here for 4°C:👇
See the thread under my Pinned Tweet for what we can do about all this.

It is time to dismantle colonial, corporate capitalism and shift the world into a new phase of climate justice. The alternative is a mass die-off.

We're endangered mammals. 👇
If you're wondering where the map comes from:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Ben See

Ben See Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ClimateBen

Nov 22
The factory food, fossil fuel, and arms industries are all thriving. Cement, plastics, steel.. This capitalist Extinction Economy is the worst-case scenario. It won't stop emissions. It has condemned us to essentially unsurvivable warming at 1.9-2°C and rising by 2029-41. 🧵
1. Mass media journalists are silent on 2°C by 2032-41 as warming hits 1.38-1.5C increasing by 0.35-0.45C per decade.

'12 months after the peak of the El Niño event and global temperatures are still exceptionally high'

Capitalsim won't 'redouble efforts'.cbc.ca/news/science/2…
Read 4 tweets
Nov 20
BREAKING: World Meteorological Organization issues Red Alert to humanity as accelerating global warming of 1.4-1.7°C and rising heralds essentially unsurvivable conditions within years not decades 🧵
1. The January –September 2024 global mean surface air temperature was 1.54°C (with a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13°C) above the pre-industrial average boosted by a warming El Niño event according to an analysis of six international datasets used by WMO.
Read 7 tweets
Nov 17
BREAKING: scientists hold back tears and shake their heads sadly as they explain utterly compromised COP29 climate conference was meant to be the last chance to organise rapid and deep emissions cuts for any chance of staying well below essentially unsurvivable 2°C 🧵
1. Time has run out to avoid 1.5°C (now sure to hit in the 2020s) and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. 1.75°C will be exceeded soon after with dire 2°C expected by 2030-2050

news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-env…
2. Abrupt climate change is just one compounding factor in extinction catastrophe.
Biodiversity destruction is a core part of the reality of industrial capitalism.
Change this Doom Economy now while it's still too late to protect species and everyone.🧵⬇️
Read 8 tweets
Nov 16
COLLAPSING: scientists confirm there's no doubt humanity will see the real risk of catastrophic multiple breadbasket failures by 2035-2045 🧵
1. “.. we will, certainly, in the next 15 to 20 years, see continued food crises, and the real risk of multiple breadbasket failures … that’s in addition to a lot of the other risks that might impact us through fresh-water pollution, ocean acidification..”dumptheguardian.com/environment/20…
2. theguardian.com/environment/20…
Disease, loss of insects to pollinate crops, collapse of fisheries..

IPBES report: a market-based focus on economic growth meant the wider benefits of nature – including spiritual, cultural and emotional value – had been ignored
x.com/ClimateBen/sta…
Read 4 tweets
Nov 14
BREAKING: horrified scientists discover plankton can't adapt to accelerating rate of global warming🧵
1. 'alarming: plankton are unable to adapt to the unprecedented speed of current temperature increases, jeopardizing vast marine ecosystems'

Change this Extinction Economy now while it's still too late to protect species and everyone.

techexplorist.com/some-sea-life-…
2. even under conservative climate projections predicting a 2°C rise, it is evident that plankton cannot keep pace with the rapid warming we are experiencing, which shows no signs of slowing down'

Extinction: climate change is just one compounding factor.
techexplorist.com/some-sea-life-…
Read 8 tweets
Nov 9
BREAKING: scientists confirm plastic production is unsustainable and must end as their fears that 30-70% of Earth's species will go extinct this century intensify 🧵
1. “What is clear is we cannot manage the amount of plastic we are producing..Only 10% of it gets recycled, something needs to be done"

Plastic pollution affecting climate, biodiversity, ecosystems, ocean acidification, species' health. #ExtinctionEconomy
dumptheguardian.com/environment/20…
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(