Читать книгу Climate Change For Dummies - Elizabeth May - Страница 78

In 2009, the earlier version of this book Global Warming for Dummies talked about the need to keep the world’s average temperature below 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C). That goal is now understood to be more dangerous than was originally thought. Scientists now confirm that the humanity should strive for no more than 1.5 degrees C or anticipate the following:

 Increased droughts in what are now semi-arid areas

 Loss of food production from persistent drought

 Dislocation of hundreds of millions of people due to climatic events with potential global political instability

 Rapid Arctic ice melt

 Fast loss of permafrost and the release of methane

 Increased forest fires and wildfires

 Shifting air circulation globally, such as collapsing polar vortex (a large long-lasting low-pressure area at both the north and south poles), increasing dangerous events from heat domes to extreme cold in southern latitudes

 Increased damage to cities and major infrastructures because of higher-intensity storms and floods

 Doubling the risk of multiple species extinctions

Figure 3-4 outlines the changes that different temperature increases, up to and beyond 3.6 F (2 degrees C), may bring. For more on the consequences of global warming and other climate changes, check out Part 3.