Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Impact of climate change or global warming Some parties have called it an extreme threat to human survival.
The impacts of climate change can already be felt today, ranging from strong storms, intensified flooding to more severe and longer-lasting fire seasons.
Reported by Live Science, scientists have warned that ignoring climate change will create untold suffering for humanity. However, if things get much worse, climate change is predicted to make humans extinct.
In addition, scientists also predict various scenarios that could be devastating if climate change cannot be controlled. But if we only consider the direct impact, then there is good news for humans because it is unlikely to cause extinction.
“There is no evidence of a climate change scenario that will make humans extinct,” Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State and author of ‘The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet’ (Public Affairs, 2021) told Live Science.
However, research also finds it is possible that climate change will still threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people, such as causing food and water scarcity, potentially triggering societal collapse and triggering global conflict.
Process for dealing with climate change
Human life increases the amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities.
These gases trap and hold heat from the sun, causing global temperatures to rise and the climate to change much faster than it should thus putting humans in danger.
Luke Kemp, a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Center for Existential Risk Studies, said the runaway greenhouse effect may be the only direct impact climate change could have on causing human extinction.
This effect occurs when a planet gets caught in an unstoppable positive feedback loop of warming and absorbs more heat that makes the planet unable to evaporate and sustain life anymore.
Fortunately, the runaway greenhouse effect is not a plausible climate change scenario on Earth.
To feel the effects, Brian Kahn, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the planet needed carbon dioxide levels of several thousand parts per million (Earth has a little over 400 million per part) or enormous releases of methane, and there was no evidence for that. at the moment.
“Science does not support the idea of an uncontrolled warming scenario, although climatologists often make such claims. There is no reason to exaggerate the climate threat. The truth is bad enough, and enough reason to take dramatic action,” said Mann.
According to Mann, an increase in global temperature of 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 3 degrees Celsius or more could lead to the collapse of social infrastructure, riots and massive conflict.
One way climate change can trigger societal collapse is by creating food insecurity.
The warming of the planet has various negative impacts on food production, including increasing the water deficit and thereby reducing food harvests.
A study published last February in the journal Climatic Change said the failure of food production could increase human mortality and lead to economic losses and socio-political instability that could lead to destruction.
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