26 Climate Crisis Disasters That Will Get Worse If We Do Nothing

Global average temperatures could rise by as much as 7 C, or 12.6 F, by 2100. So far the average has risen by about 1 C.

Regional temperatures could increase much more than the global average in places like North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Summer temperatures could increase by 9 C, or about 16 F, in some places.

Even in the United States, where temperatures are expected to rise less than the global projected increase, average temperatures could rise by as much as 12 F by the end of the 21st century.

While the jury is still out on whether global warming has significantly contributed to an increase in the frequency and strength of hurricanes affecting the United States, scientists project global warming is likely to cause a substantial increase in the severity of these events in the future.

Strong El Nino events and erratic monsoon seasons will severely affect access to water and increase water insecurity in Asia and other parts of the Pacific.

Some scientists predict as much as a 10% decline in precipitation in the subtropics for each 1 C (1.8 F) of global warming.

If the Earth warms by 2 C above preindustrial levels (we are now 1 C warmer), scientists predict that one out of 10 summers in the Arctic will be ice free. Warming in excess of 4 C will likely further eliminate Arctic ice.

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting much faster than previously thought, and further temperature increases could cause the massive ice sheet to completely melt within a few hundred years.

Warming of 4 C will lead to a sea level rise of between 6.9 and 10.8 meters, or between 22.6 and 35.4 feet.

In the longer-term, sea levels could rise by as much as 50 feet. In addition to the significant and inevitable changes to the climate and virtually all of the Earth’s biomes, sea level rise necessarily means less livable land area for humans.

The eventual melting of both polar ice caps, which scientists predict is inevitable at the current rate of warming, would in the long-term result in a sea level rise of more than 120 feet. The loss of the Greenland ice sheet would cause an even greater rise.

An estimated 145 million people live at altitudes within 3 feet of sea level. Even with a more conservative sea level rise estimate of 3 feet, these people will all be displaced by the end of the century, including in places like the Netherlands, the United States, South Asia, and China.

More than 1 million Florida homes are at risk of flooding by 2100, and many major coastal cities will be at least partially under water.

A 3-foot sea level rise would flood 20% of the landmass of Bangladesh, displacing an estimated 30 million people.

By one estimate, available drinkable surface water per person will have fallen from 6,880 cubic yards in 1951 to 1,046 cubic yards by 2025.

Several billion people will experience water scarcity by the end of the century. According to one estimate, there could be a 40% gap between global water demand and reliable water supply already by 2030.

India’s national water supply is forecast to drop to half of demand as soon as 2030, and Pakistan will face severe water scarcity by 2025.

Changes in temperature, precipitation rates, and humidity are expected to increase the incidence of diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

Changes in available food and water resources, mass migrations, and other issues could result in widespread instability in regional governments as well as severe armed conflicts.

Resource shortages and displaced populations, which are escalated by the climate emergency, are triggers of conflict. Scientists have not ruled out such worse-case scenarios as the possibility of nuclear war.

Rising seas and regional conflicts could lead to large migrations, resulting in homelessness and deteriorating health among the refugees, and to resources stretched thin in nations supporting them.

Scientists predict widespread regional declines in crop yields, particularly in fertile river deltas such as the Nile, due primarily to rising sea levels. The result will be widespread food scarcity, which could contribute to regional instability.

Wildfires in the United States have already rapidly increased in frequency and severity in recent years. Due in part to worsening drought conditions, those fires will only get worse in the coming years.

One in every six species on Earth could become extinct, with even higher regional rates. For example, one in four species in South America are at risk of dying out.

With average temperature warming to just 2.0 C above preindustrial levels, scientists predict that over 90% of the world’s coral reefs, and the delicate ecosystems they support, would be lost. With warming over 4.0 C, coral reefs would likely vanish entirely.

All of these conditions, in combination, could result in widespread human death. Kevin Anderson, director at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, predicts that only half a billion humans would survive increases in average temperature of 5 C-6 C.