Effects of Global Warming

We are all experiencing the effects of global warming.

Global warming has gradually begun to manifest itself through changes in seasons and extreme weather events. Climate experts are revealing how a 1°C increase can impact our planet and the alarming dimensions of climate change.

What is Global Warming?

First, let’s answer the question: What is global warming? Global warming is the phenomenon where an increase in the average temperatures of the Earth’s atmosphere, land, and oceans is caused by the presence of greenhouse gases.

When it comes to the causes of global warming, while it is multifaceted, we can briefly attribute it to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions resulting from fossil fuel consumption, deforestation, and other human activities that have increased over the past century.

The Earth’s climate is particularly sensitive to greenhouse gases because these gases persist in the atmosphere and can alter the planet’s radiative balance for decades or even centuries. The result is an increase in global surface temperatures, or global warming, and broader climate changes.

What are the Effects of Global Warming?

Harms of global warming are becoming increasingly evident as we witness the intensification of extreme weather events, including more frequent hurricanes, heatwaves, and prolonged droughts.

Additionally, the rising sea levels caused by global warming pose a significant threat to low-lying coastal areas, leading to increased flooding and the potential displacement of millions of people.

Increased temperatures can have profound and multifaceted effects on the Earth’s climate, particularly affecting ocean heat content and the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps.

Even if greenhouse gas emissions were to stop suddenly, it is observed that the concentrations in the atmosphere would lead to a global temperature increase of between 0.5 to 1°C. This result highlights that even a one-degree change can bring about significant alterations on our planet.

For instance, six thousand years ago, when the Earth was just one degree warmer than it is now, the region of Nebraska, which is currently agricultural land in the United States, turned into a desert plagued by dust and sandstorms.

Effects of a 1-2°C Temperature Increase

With the expected global warming of 1-2 degrees within 40 years, the hot European summer of 2003 will become the annual norm. Heatwaves will become more common, and areas with temperatures similar to those near the Sahara Desert will experience heatwaves.

Hundreds of thousands of people will fall ill and die from extreme heat. When the body temperature reaches 41°C (104°F), the thermoregulation system starts to malfunction. Sweating ceases, respiration becomes shallow and rapid, and the pulse quickens, potentially leading to a coma. Without intervention to lower the body temperature, the brain becomes deprived of oxygen, and vital organs begin to fail.

Plants will begin emitting carbon dioxide instead of absorbing it.

People will avoid vacationing in Mediterranean regions, and migration from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe will begin.

Agricultural areas will be adversely affected, and forest fires will increase.

Due to Greenland warming at a rate more than 2.2 times the global average, once global temperatures exceed 1.2°C of warming, Greenland will enter irreversible melting. The ensuing sea level rise will exceed the half-meter estimate by the IPCC for the end of the century.

If this trend continues, all of Greenland’s ice sheet will disappear within 140 years. Much of Miami and Manhattan will vanish. Bangkok, Bombay, and Shanghai will be submerged. Half of humanity will have to move to higher ground.

Not only coastal communities will be affected; when mountain glaciers melt, freshwater sources will vanish. The Indian subcontinent will fight for survival. The melting of glaciers will halt the flow of major rivers that serve as freshwater sources. Worldwide freshwater sources will decrease by a third.

Water scarcity and famine will disrupt stability in the region. It appears that the epicenter of this disaster will be nuclear-armed Pakistan, rather than India, Nepal, or Bangladesh.

By 2050, if global temperatures rise to two degrees, more than a third of all species will go extinct.

The likelihood of avoiding 1 degree of temperature increase due to global warming is inevitable, but the chance of avoiding a 2-degree temperature increase is 93%. This can only be achieved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% within the next 10 years.

Effects of a 2-3°C Temperature Increase

 

Agriculture and food production will undergo irreversible declines, leading to a desperate struggle for survival for billions of people.

Saltwater will begin to mix with freshwater sources, and small to medium-sized water basins will dry up. The warming seawater will absorb less carbon dioxide, intensifying carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and amplifying global warming.

Most dangerously, the release of methane gas, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than volcanic carbon dioxide, will be triggered by rising temperatures. Social and political fragmentation will begin, economies will collapse, and unaided migrants will fight for survival. Wars and massacres will break out over the remaining scarce resources.

The likelihood of avoiding 3 degrees of temperature increase due to global warming will be close to zero if temperature increases reach 2 degrees and trapped carbon in the ground begins to escape.

Effects of a 3-4°C Temperature Increase

The effects of global warming will intensify further. Rapid melting of ice will cause sea levels to rise by up to 50 meters, turning coastal cities into islands.

China’s agricultural production will collapse, and 1.5 billion people will face the threat of hunger.

Increasing temperatures will extend summers, with average temperatures in cities reaching 45 degrees Celsius. Air conditioning will become a necessity. The lack of renewable energy sources for energy needs will lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Most dangerously, 500 billion tons of trapped carbon dioxide in Arctic ice will be released, accelerating global warming by several degrees.

The likelihood of avoiding 4 degrees of temperature increase due to global warming will be close to zero if temperature increases reach 3 degrees and methane trapped underground begins to escape.

Effects of a 4-5°C Temperature Increase

The consequences of global warming will become increasingly severe. The Earth will reach temperatures last seen 251 million years ago when dinosaurs went extinct, leading to the extinction of 95% of species.

The Earth will become a barren and lifeless rock in space, with only dying trees and shrubs and thriving fungi remaining.

Seas that have warmed excessively will have less oxygen, and all life forms will be wiped out due to super hurricanes. Methane hydrate gas will start emerging from the seabed, causing explosions. Methane, unlike CO2, is flammable. Even at a low concentration of around 5% in the air, the mixture can be ignited by lightning or another spark and appear as fireballs in the sky. This effect is similar to fuel-air explosives used by the US and Russian militaries.

Subsequently, toxic gas hydrogen sulfide will surface as stagnant oceans release it.

All remaining forests will burn. The planet will exact a heavy toll on humanity for its resolute use of fossil fuels.

The likelihood of avoiding 5 degrees of temperature increase due to global warming will be close to zero if temperature increases reach 4 degrees, and vast amounts of trapped carbon are released from the ground.

Effects of a 5-6°C Temperature Increase

The consequences of global warming will worsen significantly, reaching temperatures similar to those 251 million years ago when the era ended with the extinction of dinosaurs, wiping out 95% of species.

The Earth will become a dead and desolate rock in space. On the Earth’s surface, only dying trees and shrubs, along with thriving fungi, will remain.

In excessively warming oceans, there will be less oxygen, and all life forms will perish due to super hurricanes. Methane hydrate gas will start emerging from the seabed, causing explosions. Methane, unlike CO2, is flammable. Even at a low concentration of around 5% in the air, the mixture can be ignited by lightning or another spark and appear as fireballs in the sky. This effect is similar to fuel-air explosives used by the US and Russian militaries.

Subsequently, toxic gas hydrogen sulfide will surface from stagnant oceans.

All remaining forests will burn. The planet will exact a heavy toll on humanity for its resolute use of fossil fuels.

You can see the future effects of global climate change in the United States here.