HOW MUCH HAS
INDUSTRIALIZATION
ALREADY WARMED
THE EARTH?
B
efore the Industrial Revolution began,
the global average CO 2 level was about
280 parts per million. By 2018 it was
407 ppm, an increase of 45%. Throughout
that period the Earth has become warmer
by approximately 1°C (1.8°F). Warming is
now occurring at a measurably faster rate:
The 20 warmest years have occurred during
the past 22, and the World Meteorological
Organization says that the trend continued
in 2019. Researchers warn that we are fast
approaching a tipping point (some put it at
a 2°C or 3.6°F increase), which can set off a
chain reaction that would make it impossible
to reverse the dire changes to the climate.WILL CLIMATE
CHANGE DESTROY
THE EARTH?
N
o. Climate change is altering Earth, but
there have been cataclysmic changes
to the climate in the past. Earth survived
them, although they drastically affected the
kinds of life-forms the planet supports, and
scores of species were driven to extinction.
Humankind is highly susceptible to climate
change, so the question is not whether we
will destroy the Earth but rather whether we
will make it uninhabitable. In reality we are
still living in an ice age, the Late Cenozoic
Ice Age, which began 33.9 million years ago.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s actually
unusual to have ice at the poles: For most of
Earth’s history the poles were ice-free—but
sea levels were also up to 200 feet higher.HOW MANY
PEOPLE HAVE
BEEN KILLED BY
CLIMATE CHANGE?
A
ccording to one UN report, “More than
600,000 lives were lost, and 4.1 billion
people were injured, left homeless, or
in need of emergency assistance as a result
of weather-related disasters between 1995
and 2015,” which accounted for 90% of the
major disasters occurring during that time.
The WHO estimates up to 250,000 people a
year could be killed by climate change by
the year 2030. According to a British study,
heat-related deaths in the UK will rise 257%
over the next 30 years due to climate change.1,000s
of years is how long a molecule of CO 2 can
potentially remain in the atmosphere, after
up to 80% of CO 2 is dissolved by the oceans
in about 20 to 200 years’ time. In contrast,
chemical reactions remove most of the
methane from the atmosphere in
about 12 years’ time.
THE SHAPE OF
THINGS TO COME
Outbreaks of bushfi res in the
southeast portion of Australia
were signifi cantly more severe
in 2019 than those of previous
years. The inferno ravaging the
country since September has
claimed two dozen lives and
decimated wildlife in addition
to many homes, destroying
an area larger than Maryland.ideasanddiscoveries.com 21 May 2020