Climate change could destroy human civilization - scientists

04 August 2022, 17:09 | Technologies 
фото с Зеркало недели

An international group of scientists published a report on climate change, in which they called on humanity to prepare for the worst-case scenario for the development of global warming.. Moreover, it is necessary to develop a plan for what will happen if - and when - our current way of life comes to an end, according to Science Alert..

“Climate change has played a role in all mass extinctions. They led to the decline of empires and outlined the course of history. Even the modern world seems to have adapted to a specific climate niche,"

[see_also ids\u003d"

He also added that the likely damage will not only be caused by the rise in temperature itself, which leads to an increase in extreme weather events.. This process also has side effects such as financial crises, conflicts, disease outbreaks that can hinder recovery from potential cataclysms such as nuclear war..

Scientists believe that extreme weather should also be added to the "

Recent history has already shown mankind what pandemics, economic instability, global food shortages and their combination can be.. Despite the fact that the consequences of these events are not very pleasant, the structure of civilization remained intact..

But at some point, the structures that help us survive these storms can collapse..

Food shortages force people into contact with animal-borne disease reservoirs, resulting in successive pandemics. Hunger accompanies wars as they limit the distribution of food for years or even decades.. Inflation sets in as the economy struggles to cope with new rules for doing business in a hotter, more disaster-ravaged world.

“About 30 million people in the Sahara and the Gulf Coast live in an average annual temperature of 29 degrees Celsius.. By 2070, these temperatures and the social and political consequences will directly affect two nuclear powers and seven maximum protection laboratories that contain the most dangerous pathogens.. There is a serious potential for catastrophic side effects,” said Chi Xu, a social complexity researcher at Nanjing University..

The problem, scientists say, is not that we can't imagine such an outcome.. The problem is that competent risk management involves not only predicting possible scenarios, but also protecting against the consequences that are possible with them..

In the optimistic scenario, we could rectify the situation and push back such events a bit.. This requires a combination of behavior change, policy action and innovation.. It could even help stem the rise in temperatures on the plateau, which won't lead to a new possibility of disaster every six months..

If things continue as they are now, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is almost certain, between 2030 and 2052 the temperature on the planet will rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels..

There is also a one in five chance that at about 560 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide, the temperature of the atmosphere will be several degrees warmer.. As of May this year, the figures have reached 420 parts per million.

An IPCC report published this year shows that the governments of the world are not paying enough attention to this issue..

Recall that data from the European Copernicus satellite system showed that the past seven years have been the hottest on record.. Last year, 2021, was the fifth hottest year on the list, with temperature records recorded in some regions..

Источник: Зеркало недели