According to scientists who work with the United Nations, we only have about 12 years left until climate change raises the temperature another .5° Celsius. If this does happen or when it does, it can have a significant impact on the environment. The environment can be affected and thus affect human life. People will be hurt by this change in the earth’s temperature because food will become scarcer due to droughts and hotter days. This will put many impoverished nations at risk because they already have little to eat. So many people can be hurt and die from this very possible situation we are facing, it really is seen as a future crisis. You may think that half a degree Celsius doesn’t seem like much and maybe it’s an exaggeration. The scientists who have done this study have seen that at 1.5°C there is already stress for water in some areas and at 2°C it can be 50% more water stress.
This heat risk is most dangerous when related to insects, which many people would normally want to get rid of. Many people find insects are a nuisance and we buy bug spray for and candles to keep them away from us, so we are not bothered but insects serve a purpose. Insects are what pollinate. The pollination of crops is vital for our lives. The risk is that at 2°C insects’ habitats will most likely be destroyed and without a place to live they will die. Therefore, they will not be able to do their job and pollenate crops, resulting in less crops. Less crops means less food worldwide. So again, the impoverished nations who have little food will have even less or no food at all.
Sea level rise will also go up if this shift in temperature goes up, affecting even more people. The more the sea level rises the more land goes underwater. People who live on the coast will not be able to keep their homes and will have to migrate more inland at the very least. The scientists of the U.N. also report that by the year 2100 ten million more people can be affected by just the sea level rising.
This means the governments have hard choices to make and soon. The urgency for making decisions is of the highest importance. Some governments may have a difficult time making these decisions because they are worrying about today and not tomorrow. People need to get through their daily problems, which at the moment seems bigger then the environmental issues, because you have to survive today to worry about tomorrow. Certainly it will not be easy to make such decisions for the different nations. At the end of this year the report that was issued on environmental change will be presented in Poland at the United Nations in order for all the different nations to hear what it is all about and come to some decisions on the problems we are facing these days. Hopefully they will come to some helpful solutions that will help the earth for the future to come.
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