Raphael ThysPhoto by Ron Szalata on Unsplash
Is Climate Change The End?
We may have underestimated the severity of the situation.
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Published in
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6 min read
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3 days ago
Over the years, I have been accused of scaremongering or overexaggerating the risks of climate change a number of times. It is one of the reasons I struggle to fully interact on social media, as these criticisms come out of nowhere and don’t address the data or evidence I present in my work, but rather resort to baseless character attacks. Quite frankly, I have happier and more important things to do, but it is necessary to address these criticisms. Especially as you, my readers, likely face the same barrage of mindless carping. So, here is why climate change could be the end and why you and everyone else shouldn’t underestimate the threat we face.
I want to start with some recent research. You see, most climate research focuses on figuring out how to mitigate or predict it. However, this research aimed to see if we had thoroughly explored the dangers of climate change and if the scientific world has an accurate picture of what we are up against. The results were terrifying, as they found that the risk of global societal collapse or human extinction has been “dangerously underexplored.”
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They labelled such events the “climate endgame,” and while they found it had a relatively small chance of happening, it absolutely can’t be ruled out. This is because the legislation and plans to predictably and reliably reduce global emissions to net-zero are far from finalised and enacted. This is allowing China to dramatically expand its coal power fleet and enabling the Western world to drag its heels on climate action. So, predicting what the climate will be like and the implications of it in 30 years or so has a massive amount of variability, as carbon emissions over this time have an enormous potential range.
This study found that the upper estimates of potential climate change have been woefully unexplored and that the scientific community, governmental community and the general public are unaware of the extent of the potential risks posed by climate change. In particular, they cited that research into the impact of global warming levels over 3 degrees Celsius, which is more than possible without…