Activity 9

Climate Change - How bad is it?

Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, tornados, droughts and flooding are often cited as evidence that our climate is changing, but scientists have always been very cautious about making bold statements on this  -  until the recent publication of the Special Report on Extreme Weather by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  This report contains stark warnings for developing countries in particular, as they are likely to be the worst affected, partly because of their geography but also because they are poorer. But the developed world will also be affected.

Climate scientists, using computer models to  predict different scenarios,  believe that global warming could increase the Earth’s temperature by between 2 – 6 degrees.  Two degrees sounds very little, but computer predictions show it could cause massive disruption to the Earth’s climate – a 2 metre rise in sea levels, for example, and a greater incidence of extreme weather incidents.  Whole regions or even some entire countries, such as Bangladesh, Alaska and Florida, would disappear completely  under the sea. In addition, certain animal species like the polar bear may become extinct. The greater the temperature increase, the greater the disruption to climate, and the greater the impact on countries, plants and animals.

 Computer models predict that an increase of between 2 – 5 degrees would drastically impact on climate, but humans would adapt to live in the new conditions.  However,  many scientists believe that if the temperature increase is above 5 degrees, the Earth may become inhabitable for humans and that we would die out as a species.  Most scientists believe the Earth itself would survive and that new species would evolve to inhabit a very different planet from the one we recognise today.