Global Catastrophes: A Very Short Introduction by Bill McGuire

Author:Bill McGuire [McGuire, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: nature, Natural Disasters, Science, Philosophy & Social Aspects, General, Physics, Geophysics
ISBN: 9780192804938
Google: Dht3Zens-xAC
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2006-01-26T18:29:02.217261+00:00

12. Comparisons of temperatures in this interglacial period and the last suggest that we are already well on the way to the next Ice Age whether we want to take the icy plunge on its own or spend some s

time baking in the sauna first. Whichever choice we make, there is e

no denying that life for our descendants will become increasingly stroph

hard, should the ice return. Life in Europe, North America, Russia, and central and eastern Asia will be pretty much impossible, engendering mass migrations southwards lobal CataG accompanied undoubtedly by bloody wars fought over living space and resources. The climate of Ice Age Earth is simply not suited to sustaining a population totalling 8–10 billion, or thereabouts, and widespread famine alongside civil strife is certain to lead to a severe culling of the human population. There is no question that our race will survive, as it did the last time that the ice left its polar fastnesses, but it is likely to be but a pale shadow of its former self.

Facts to fret over

•

Between 800 and 600 million years ago, the Earth was a frozen snowball covered with ice a kilometre or more thick.

•

Just 600 human generations have passed since the end of the last Ice Age.

•

At the height of the last Ice Age, temperatures in the UK were 15–20 60

degrees Celsius lower than they are now, and over much of North America, more than 25 degrees Celsius lower.

•

Sea levels have risen by over 120 metres since the ice started to retreat around 18,000 years ago.

•

A temperature rise of just 2–3 degrees Celsius – which is virtually certain before 2100 – could result in a 45 per cent probability of a dramatic slowdown or shutdown of the Gulf Stream.

•

An Atlantic current flowing between Scotland and the Faeroe Islands has weakened by 20 per cent in the last 50 years.

•

Without greenhouse gas emissions, the world could be 3 degrees Celsius colder in 8,000 years.

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