1. live with severe water stress 2. fear unprecedented heatwaves 3. be at risk from deadly diseases 4. be affected by extreme weather 5. suffer hunger/famine/starvation 6. consider relocating due to climate
No, this couldn't be true.
Could it?
Average global temperature will have risen considerably in 7 years time - we're set to hit catastrophic 1.5C by 2026:
'The analysis assumes that little or no action is taken to reduce emissions'.
Heat waves with levels of heat and humidity that *exceed what humans can survive without protection* could hit over 1.5 billion people in South Asia within a few decades. ⚠️
Today over 6 billion people are in climates where there's a risk of mosquito-spread diseases. That number will rise: theguardian.com/society/2019/m…
"Climate change is going to kill a lot of people. Mosquito-borne diseases are going to be a big way that happens". commondreams.org/news/2019/03/2…
Most people will be affected as crops, infrastructure, homes, and the global economy are hit by increasingly severe weather.
Already today a billion people are directly facing climate change related hazards (cyclones, floods, bushfires, rising sea levels).vice.com/en_asia/articl…
'Since 1998, about 4.5 billion people around the world have been hurt by extreme weather.'
In the next 7 years, as abrupt climate change accelerates, this number will likely be hit directly or indirectly as extreme weather becomes far more severe/frequent.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/c…
2 billion hit by absolute water scarcity by 2026 plus worse extreme weather. The impact on food production! Only huge change could stop over 50% being hungry by 2026:unfccc.int/news/un-warns-…
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"If we cannot find a solution to this problem..in 2025, close to 70% [of the planet's soil] could be affected," Gnacadja said. "There will not be global security without food security."
"yet to be fully recognized by both the public and the climate research community. If the projections in the study come even close to be realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be enormous"
'Livelihoods of indigenous communities in Asia are in danger and climate change will end up increasing the food price, increase in cost of living and will further exacerbate poverty.' downtoearth.org.in/news/food-pric…
4 billion suffering from micronutrient malnutrition (hidden hunger), or worse, by 2026, is a disturbing possibility.
It seems likely that by 2026 most people will at some point *weigh up* whether they should stay, or move to avoid negative impacts of climate breakdown & ecological collapse.
None of this is set in stone. Radical, positive changes to human society could help to 1) prevent water and food crises spinning out of control 2) protect everyone from heatwaves and extreme weather events 3) ensure good health for all 4) allow people to move safely and securely.
All this is to hammer home the urgent need to act now.
'3 billion people will have to choose between going hungry and moving their families to milder climes because of climate change within 100 years'.
'Under agricultural conditions, it takes about 500 years to create an inch of topsoil, which can be lost in minutes. World agriculture contributes to a soil loss of 24 billion tons each year (Baskin, 1997)'sciencedirect.com/topics/agricul…
World Day to Combat Desertification/Drought:
'UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world loses 24 billion tons of fertile land every year.'
"reduce forced migration, improve food security and spur economic growth"
⚠️A recent UN-commissioned report found that capitalism is unsustainable, yet it continues to back the overconsumption, waste & environmental destruction of corporate neocolonialism.news.un.org/en/story/2019/…
UN report on unsustainable free market capitalism. ⬇️
'Industrialised agriculture wouldn't be possible without plentiful provisions of cheap crude oil & natural gas to supply fuels, pesticides, herbicides & fertilisers. If the cheap oil & gas supply fails global agriculture fails too..'
Destruction of habitats and wildlife has intensified and accelerated to an almost unimaginable degree during the capitalist era. Scientists say the 40-50% of plant species now facing extinction will be obliterated in a handful of decades. It didn't have to be like this. Rethink.
'previous mass extinctions.. took 10,000s, 100,000s, even millions of years to happen. this is happening so fast, now in just two, three decades..' google.com/amp/s/www.cbsn…
2. Current estimates of plant extinctions are, without a doubt, gross underestimates. Extinctions will surpass background rates by 1000s of times over the next 80 years. universityofcalifornia.edu/news/plants-ar…
BREAKING: as tropical forests show increasingly clear signs they are entering a collapse phase scientists warn irreversible mass extinction conditions are on the horizon 🧵
1. rapid warming & collapse
".. warming could continue to accelerate.. even if we reach zero human emissions. We will have fundamentally changed the carbon cycle in a way that can take geological timescales to recover, which has happened in Earth’s past.”scitechdaily.com/mass-extinctio…
2. “There will be a point in the not too distant future when we suddenly see and feel this mass extinction all around us very clearly”
“A key point of extinction crises is that life has always recovered.. However..we most likely won’t be there to see it."
The Greenland ice sheet is now losing around 9 billion litres of ice an hour [Geological Survey of Denmark &Greenland]
With the ice sheet at “a tipping point of irreversible melting”, scientists currently expect an unavoidable sea level rise of 1-2 metres.weforum.org/stories/2025/0…
4 to 10 m sea level rise committed in the coming 2000 years, with the majoroty of that in the coming decades/centuries it would appear. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
BREAKING: horrific worst-case scenarios firmly back on the table as scientists confirm large-scale Earth systems such as forests, ice sheets, and ocean currents may already be collapsing 🧵
'large-scale Earth systems may be experiencing gradual collapses that are easy to miss, with profound implications
"we may already be crossing tipping points without realizing"
BREAKING: as global warming accelerates wildly normally reticent Establishment scientists begin to discuss plausibility of near-term human extinction 🧵
1/'It seems very unlikely that extinction is on the table for any but the most severe scenarios of climate negligence. However, it is easy to envision a collapse of human civilization.'
2/We know relatively low levels of warming like 2 or 2.5°C (which are in fact absolutely extreme given the rapid rate of change) could mean human extinction. Dr Mann would agree 2.25-3.25°C is likely/very likely to hit in a few/handful of decades.
BREAKING: climate scientists say it's now easy to envision a collapse of human civilization 🧵
1. it is easy to envision a collapse of human civilization:
'Without even appealing to the uncertain science of climate tipping points, the known impacts of climate change.. would be more than adequate to destabilize our societal infrastructure.' gizmodo.com/is-climate-cha…
2. Climate scientists project 2°C and rising by the 2030s/40s, with 2.5°C or more by the 2040s/50s or soon after. There is no evidence whatsoever humans can survive that rate of change and the abrupt shift to extreme new conditions.