Courtesy of James Bradley
The Arctic island of Svalbard is so reliably frigid that humanity bet its future on the place. Since 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault—set deep in frozen soil known as permafrost has accepted nearly 1.4 million samples of more than 6,000 species of critical crops. But, the island is warming six to seven times faster than the rest of the planet, making even winters freakishly hot, at least by Arctic standards. Indeed, in 2017, an access tunnel to the vault flooded as permafrost melted, though the seeds weren’t impacted…….Continue reading…..
By Matt Simon, Grist
Source: Inside Climate News
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Critics:
Rising temperatures are fueling environmental degradation, natural disasters, weather extremes, food and water insecurity, economic disruption, conflict, and terrorism. Sea levels are rising, the Arctic is melting, coral reefs are dying, oceans are acidifying, and forests are burning. While there is still time to limit global emissions to within 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels, the window of opportunity is closing fast, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
But as the transition to a low- or no-carbon future gains momentum, several bright spots are appearing on the horizon. The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—a group of hundreds of scientists working with the United Nations to analyze climate change research from around the world—names many serious risks brought on by the warming of our planet, but human extinction is not among them.
The global average temperature rise is predicted to climb permanently above 1.5°C by between 2026 and 2042, with a central estimate of 2032, while business as usual will see the 2°C breached by 2050 or very soon after.Future changes are expected to include a warmer atmosphere, a warmer and more acidic ocean, higher sea levels, and larger changes in precipitation patterns.
Risk estimates. Given the limitations of ordinary observation and modeling, expert elicitation is frequently used instead to obtain probability estimates. Humanity has a 95% probability of being extinct in 7,800,000 years, according to J. The simulations also predict that the future of human evolution will suffer from thicker skulls and smaller brains in the year 3000, another side effect of technology making us lazy and causing us to lose some of our brain capacity due to lack of usage.
Even after those first scorching millennia, however, the planet has often been much warmer than it is now. One of the warmest times was during the geologic period known as the Neoproterozoic, between 600 and 800 million years ago. Conditions were also frequently sweltering between 500 million and 250 million years ago.
Roughly 1.3 billion years from now, “humans will not be able to physiologically survive, in nature, on Earth” due to sustained hot and humid conditions. In about 2 billion years, the oceans may evaporate when the sun’s luminosity is nearly 20% more than it is now, Kopparapu said. Instead, Earth’s natural cycles and greenhouse effects might delay the onset of the next ice age, expected within the next 10,000 to 100,000 years.
Some theories suggest global warming could potentially trigger an ice age by disrupting ocean currents, specifically the Gulf Stream, leading to dramatic cooling in Europe. We will survive another degree or so as well. However, with each increment in temperature the world we inhabit changes in response. We must adapt to those changes and deal with the disruption and deviation from equilibrium they cause.
We will survive another degree or so as well. However, with each increment in temperature the world we inhabit changes in response. We must adapt to those changes and deal with the disruption and deviation from equilibrium they cause. People and companies will produce their own electricity using reusable energy sources, making power plants and the use of fossil fuels obsolete. Space travel will become a common mode of transport, allowing us to travel to places such as colonies on solar planets, and planetary moons.
A group of closely-related organisms that have common physical and genetic characteristics and are able to interbreed to produce fertile offspring. As humans, we experience dramatically fewer hazards today than we did in our early evolution. However, genetic studies indicate that we are still evolving. Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases are the main drivers of global warming.
While climate change cannot be stopped, it can be slowed. To avoid the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner. While the challenges of preventing dangerous climate change are immense, it is not too late to act. Immediate and sustained efforts are required to mitigate the worst impacts and support vulnerable populations
According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a 22% chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record and a 99% chance that it will rank in the top five. January saw a record-high monthly global ocean surface temperature for the 10th consecutive month.
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