Global warming has quickly become one of the most heated issues in America (pun intended). Rising temperatures and melting icebergs are indisputable evidence that the Earth is warming, but is this global heat wave a man-made crisis or just overblown hype?
Based on estimates of warming of two to three degrees Celsius over the next 50 years:
Melting glaciers will increase flood risk and then strongly reduce the water supply, threatening about one-sixth of the world’s population.
While crop yields may initially rise in some areas due to moderately warmer temperatures, they will decline with further warming.
Cold-related deaths will decrease in high latitudes but climate change will ultimately increase worldwide deaths due to increased mortality from malnutrition and heat stress.
Ecosystems will suffer from global warming with an estimated 15-40% of species facing extinction after a 2º temperature increase.
Developing nations and the poor will be hit the hardest. Among other reasons, this is because developing countries are mostly dependent on agriculture, which is the most sensitive sector of the economy to climate change.
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