Assuming that humanity does nothing to prevent the runaway escalation of global warming into a full-blown climate catastrophe, the future looks bleak and miserable. While world governments make the most glacial progress on grinding to some kind of climate action, the planet continues to get hotter, and natural disasters become more common and devastating each year.
Texas spent much of the winter of 2021 under a layer of ice, before transitioning to hurricane season. The 2020 hurricane season was the most active ever recorded in the United States, with the Atlantic belching up some thirty-one storms. The impact of the storms was costly, making it the fifth-costliest hurricane season on record.
And, if this pattern holds, every year is set to break new records.
Extreme Weather Becomes the Norm
The first thing we’ll notice as the global climate crisis intensifies is that “extreme,” “once-in-a-lifetime” weather events become common occurrences. This won’t make them any less devastating, deadly or horrifying, however: just more frequent. Hurricanes in the US have only grown in frequency and intensity, and tornadoes are occurring at an increased rate, too.
Lengthy droughts, flooding rains, freak snowstorms, extreme heatwaves are likely to continue while the planet’s weather reacts to the changing global temperatures. As this situation intensifies, the global heat is likely to continue melting the polar ice caps, leading to rising sea levels that could see many major metropolitan areas buried beneath the waves.
Famine, Disease and War
As weather patterns shift, agriculture could become much more difficult. Land that vanishes beneath the sea will require people to move inland, into agricultural territory. Extreme droughts and high temperatures will strain food production, even as species going extinct due to human actions makes acquiring food that much harder.
Melting permafrost could release ancient pathogens, spurring on global pandemics that would make 2020 look like a dress rehearsal. Add to this potential nightmare scenario the likelihood that democratic institutions would struggle to hold back the totalitarian tendencies of people who are panicked about not being able to have enough food for dinner, and there’s a recipe for another world war in the mix, too.
Famine, disease, war, rising water levels and frequent hurricanes? If this sounds apocalyptic, that’s only because it would be. Human civilization as we understand it could be facing its direst threat yet. The sooner we take action to stop climate change, the better.
