• Question: When in the future do you think global warming will be so warm that people die if we carry on at this pace.

    Asked by anon-279036 on 6 Feb 2021.
    • Photo: Manuel Kober-Czerny

      Manuel Kober-Czerny answered on 6 Feb 2021:

      Great question!
      I don’t think the heat itself will ever be a problem for humans.
      But the effects of a few degrees in average temperature will change a lot and these effects could kill us.
      Like rising water levels will flood parts of continents, the climate will be more ‘aggressive’ and we will have more storms, fires, etc. (as it is happening already now). The summer could be too hot for some plants to grow so we will have food problems. Animals may not be able to live in hotter temperatures, so we will have even less food.
      And according to people that know a lot more about this then me, these things are already starting to happen and will get worse and worse, if we continue on this path.

      But, to give you some hope as well: a lot of good things are happening more and more, because young people like us fight for this and governments start to make important changes, to reduce the effects of climate change. We can do it!!

    • Photo: Hazel Jeffery

      Hazel Jeffery answered on 8 Feb 2021:

      I’m afraid that people already die due to climate change as the impacts of the fossil fuels on the planet are already happening. Scientists can’t say exactly how many because it is difficult to say for an event like a flood, hurricane or heatwave, whether is was specifically caused by climate change or not. However, we know that all these ‘extreme’ events are increasing due to climate change.

      The World Health Organisation estimates that between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress. See https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health

      This is why it is important that everyone takes action on climate change see https://www.count-us-in.org/16-steps/ for ideas.

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