WORLD COULD WARM BY EIGHT DEGREES IF ALL FOSSIL FUEL BURNED

According to an article released by the National Geographic magazine, if we continue burning fossil fuels, the planet will soon be eight degrees warmer, returning to the climate mirroring 52 years ago.

Scientists keep reminding that global warming will melt a huge amount of ice caps, which will « expose bare ground, increase heat absorption at high latitudes, and cause more warming. »

If our planet’s fuel resources are entirely used, five trillion metric tons of carbon will be added to the atmosphere, causing a rise of 8 degrees celsius. According to an article published in Nature Climate Change, Canadian scientists are scheduling an increase by 17 degrees in the Artic. Those results snuff out such hope that previous studies have projected.

“I think it is really important to know what would happen if we don’t take any action to mitigate climate change,” said Katarzyna Tokarska, at the University of Victoria in Canada, who also led the new research. “Even though we had the Paris climate change agreement, so far there hasn’t been any action. [This research] is a warning message.”

If this scenario becomes reality, Earth will be transformed into « chaos » where food is scarce, parts of the world are uninhabitable for humans and many species of animals and plants are extinguished.

« It also would heat the world to a level, approaching that of the early Eocene period, 52 million to 56 million years ago, when palm trees grew as far north as Alaska and crocodiles swam in the Arctic. »

Original article from The Guardian

Image copyrighted to The National Geographic