Original image: Man at bridge holding head with hands and screaming. By Edvard Munch - WebMuseum at ibiblioPage: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/Image URL: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37610298

Climate change: how bad could the future be if we do nothing?

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Professor Mark Maslin of UCL’s sermon to the climate believers, promising fire, floods, famine and devastation unless they all make good on their commitments to cut their carbon footprints, and cut back on meat consumption.

Climate change: how bad could the future be if we do nothing?

May 6, 2021 10.59pm AEST
Mark Maslin
Professor of Earth System Science, UCL

Year 2100: the nightmare scenario

The 21st century draws to a close without action having been taken to prevent climate change. Global temperatures have risen by over 4°C. In many countries, summer temperatures persistently stay above 40°C. Heatwaves with temperatures as high as 50°C have become common in tropical countries.

Every summer, wildfires rage across every continent except Antarctica, creating plumes of acrid smoke that make breathing outdoors unbearable, causing an annual health crisis. 

Ocean temperatures have risen dramatically. After repeated bleaching events, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has been officially declared dead.

Frequent and prolonged droughts torment vast swathes of the Earth’s land. The deserts of the world have expanded, displacing many millions of people. Around 3.5 billion live in areas where water demand exceeds what’s available.

Many coastal and river areas are regularly flooded, including the Nile Delta, the Rhine valley and Thailand. Over 20% of Bangladesh is permanently under water.

Winter storms are more energetic and unleash more water, causing widespread wind damage and flooding each year.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/climate-change-how-bad-could-the-future-be-if-we-do-nothing-159665

A few questions Professor.

  1. If wildfires rage across all the parched continents, what exactly will they be burning? I mean sure, you could imagine one or two superfires scorching the land, but after a few years of this there would be nothing left to burn. Of course, it is possible the survivors of the first few superfires might cut some firebreaks or perform some forestry management before they lose everything.
  2. If we have more energetic winter storms, how can we also have extreme summer droughts? I know we’re talking about nature’s wrath, but will people in 2100 have forgotten how to build reservoirs?
  3. If some areas are flooded and others left dry, will people in 2100 have forgotten how to build large water pipes?
  4. Regarding the ocean warming you predict, why will less than a century achieve what the entire Holocene has so far failed to deliver? The ocean depths are still near freezing, even in the tropics, because there has not been enough time to warm the ocean since the end of the last ice age, over 12,000 years ago. How will a few degrees of additional global warming over a period of less than a century cause a rapid and radical change to the overall temperature of the ocean?
  5. If the oceans do warm, how can they also become more acidic? Warm water expels dissolved CO2, so the dissolved CO2 content of seawater will fall if the water warms significantly, even if atmospheric CO2 rises.

Of course, none of these predictions are testable in any meaningful sense. Most of us will have long since died of old age, before the year 2100.

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May 6, 2021 8:24 pm

In the long run, we’re all dead. JMK.

All that really matters.

GregK
May 6, 2021 8:39 pm

Great Barrier Reef “Officially” declared dead?

Seems someone forgot to tell the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
https://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/the-reef/reef-health

Gary Pearse
May 6, 2021 8:51 pm

How bad can it be if we do nothing? Well one thing that is a no brainer is that the West spending a couple of hundred trillion (US half of that), will not stem the galloping emissions from 5 billion people outside the West bent on achieving prosperity for their people.

They’ve already embarked on the plan with hundreds of new coal fired plants constructed, under construction and on the drawing board. That is just for cheap electrification. Following will be the other trappings of prosperity – decades of infrastructure and other construction with necessary cement, iron and steel, a tripling of the global auto and truck fleets, travel, shipping; the comforts – a more than doubling of CO2 output….

May 6, 2021 9:09 pm

I think 1.5 or 2 is supposed to scare me, right? 4 Degrees warmer is my worst nightmare.

Speaking of which, it was supposed to be a high of 11C today here in Toronto, but it was a wonderful surprise to have it hit 15C! Four degrees of unexpected warming in one day!
And my 2 year old had a wonderful day at the park.

Even if the worst case scenarios depicted by the climate nutters magically prove true, I still haven’t figured out why True Believers in places like Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia aren’t trying to burn as much fossil fuel as possible in order to make millions of sq kms of frozen and useless tundra into prime real estate that the rest of the world has no choice but to migrate towards.

dk_
Reply to  Tom in Toronto
May 6, 2021 10:34 pm

Saint (sarc) Svante Ahrennius thought that the “hothouse” effect might give Sweden a more attractive and salubrious climate, so as to attract future immigrants and improve agricultural conditions.

Fun fact: When Prof. Knut Angstrom called him on Ahrennius’ actual measurements for CO2, despite his colleague’s (and Knut’s father, another colleague) greater experience and body of work in the field of radiation absorbtion in gases, Svante ridiculed the man, even though both Angstoms’ work was essential to his own. Ahrennius continued his Nobel victory lap lecture tour. Knut Angstrom continued his work, as did his son — 3 generations in radiation/meteorology. The guy with the posture and ego got the prize, and climate death cult sainthood.

Reply to  Tom in Toronto
May 7, 2021 3:57 am

“millions of sq kms of frozen and useless tundra”
The enviros will cry that it’s “rare and endangered habitat”- to them, it’ll be a catastrophe for the tundra to revert to a thriving forest.

May 6, 2021 11:28 pm

Over 20% of Bangladesh is permanently under water.” Bangladesh is growing in size.

Reply to  Matthew Sykes
May 7, 2021 2:10 am

Coldest temperature ever recorded in Bangladesh was in 2018, 2.6°C/36.6°F.

This idiot professor thinks cold doesn’t affect people:

https://electroverse.net/at-least-50-dead-as-severe-cold-sweeps-bangladesh/

Ken Irwin
May 6, 2021 11:42 pm

About the same tenor as this climate sermon by Marty Feldman

May 7, 2021 2:01 am

In many countries, summer temperatures persistently stay above 40°C

Published in the reputable “The Conversation” need I say more.

In a hot, dry area it is worth noting that heat is not the major problem but a lack of water. If there is a plentiful supply of water, trees and plants can flourish. Anyone who has lived in this kind of area will know that it is substantially cooler under trees than out in the sun where temperatures are measured. This is why people have lived and survived for thousands of years in some of the hottest and driest areas. They have found ways to capture and store water when there is heavy rain and use it for irrigation when it is driest. Human ingenuity is a reality. Climate engineering is a fantasy.

Bruce Cobb
May 7, 2021 4:03 am

Hear me, oh ye climate blasphemers and idolaters of fossil fuels! Change your wicked ways now and henceforth, for if you do not, there will be much pain and anguish wreaked upon you, and upon this land and the oceans. For you have sinned mightily in the eyes of Gaia, and the keepers of The Science. Repent, and change your ways of wickedness, for if you do not, there will come a time of great sorrow and misery, and the anguish and suffering of your people and progeny will be such that a great cry will go up throughout the land! Fire will ravage and consume all in its path, and both great Floods as well as Droughts will wreak great death and misery. When there aren’t great storms wreaking havoc and death, there will be a baking heat such that you have never known! Repent now, and change your wicked ways, or your progeny will curse you for what you have done, and many will succumb to the hostile climate that you have created!
Now go in peace, spreading this message to others so that a time of great evil can be averted. Amen!
Checks are OK, but we take credit cards, venmo, cash, and even bitcoin. Thank you very much. May St. Greta bless you!

ozspeaksup
May 7, 2021 4:36 am

the gbr is dead?
oh really?
what drivel

Dennis
Reply to  ozspeaksup
May 7, 2021 5:08 am

Yes it is, the GBR is alive and life cycles continue.

Interesting that all of the other coral reefs are rarely mentioned.

jpkoch1962
May 7, 2021 4:40 am

There was an era when different parts of the globe suffered from terrible droughts, devastating storms that brought floods, as well as record cold and snow, devastating tropical storms; long term glacier growth, as well as terrible summer heat waves. This era was known as the Little Ice Age, circa 1315 to 1820

Josie
May 7, 2021 5:04 am

A bit off topic perhaps but as I understand it The Scream is not about a guy screaming but rather a guy hearing Nature scream in his head.

https://inews.co.uk/culture/arts/art-the-scream-not-screaming-edvard-munch-271425

Maybe the professor or Greta grapple with the problem of hearing screams in their heads. In which case they are not to be envied I guess.

2hotel9
May 7, 2021 6:27 am

Doing nothing is the intelligent course of action, therefore it will not be taken.

May 7, 2021 6:59 am

If we do nothing, about 8 billion humans will die by the end of the century. If we follow the advice of the catastrophists we can ensure that many of those 8 billion die even sooner at the end of miserable lives while the natural world is decimated as people cling to the last vestiges of civilization. On the other hand, if we recognize that CAGW is an imaginary bogyman created for political and profit goals, and we return to a life of achievement based on science and truth, we can build the most amazing world for the 8 billion so that after their passing they will have lived a life of purpose and achievement.

Olen
May 7, 2021 7:13 am

The sermon reads like a Hollywood script depicting a lunatic instilling fear with predictions that have no basis in reality.

My opinion of those who listen are ones who want to make their mark on their life but with very little effort. And possibly the desire to fit in with a group with a goal.

Mark D
May 7, 2021 7:55 am

In 1977, a empty headed young newlywed, I watched “We Will Freeze in the Dark” and was terrified. Half century later I’m still waiting.

Paul Penrose
May 7, 2021 10:32 am

Total rubbish.

Jeffery P
May 7, 2021 12:20 pm

Have the courage to do nothing. It’s not a crisis. Stop feeding the apocalyptic fears of the loonies. Encourage them to get professional help. Surely there are group sessions available. Possibly could combine with Trump Derangement Syndrome de-programming.

ren
May 7, 2021 12:24 pm

A melted glacier in Northern Italy has uncovered a trove of World War 1 treasures.
A cave shelter in Mount Scorluzzo housed 20 Austrian soldiers in the war, and has now revealed food, dishes, jackets, and other items.
The cave was first entered by researchers in 2017, when the surrounding glacier had melted – explained historian Stefano Morosini to CNN.
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/melting-glacier-stelvio-pass-italy-ww1-b1842360.html

Quilter52
May 9, 2021 7:14 pm

I wonder if the vegans and vegetarians realise how many animals they are responsible for the deaths of. Every time I get lectured about giving up meat, I go out And order another steak.If these fruit loops want to exterminate themselves, please feel free. Justleave the rest of us alone to get on with our perfectly satisfying woke free lives.

Loius
May 19, 2021 7:03 am

Although many skeptics say that nothing can be done. But in fact, we can slow down the process of climate change and global warming. I’m just writing an essay on climate change and what we can do as a society so as not to destroy the environment at such a fast pace. I’ve read a lot of papers on climate change, and in fact, we can very radically change the course of events. Reducing the emission of chemicals into the atmosphere, recycling, electric cars, we are in a position to change a lot.

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