What will happen if global warming continues

Question: What will happen if global warming continues
- Keywords:
  global warming
Asked by emmagrace to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 19 Jun 2011.
- Tim Millar answered on 17 Jun 2011:
  
  If the global temperature rises then it may have some big effects on climate around the world. It may cause places to be warmer, or wetter, it may cause drought and floods, more or less huricanes and typhoons and it will depend where you live.
  
  Some suggestions include cooling of the north atlantic, making the UK cooler whilst making other places hotter.
  
  The earth may be able to change to cope. More rain means more clouds which reflects more sunlight back into space and then some cooling will happen.
  
  We have to keep measuring and looking to see whats happening and working out what to do next
- Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 18 Jun 2011:
  
  From a climatic point of view, the average global temperature will go up. For many places the average local temperature will also go up. But for some it will go down, as sea currents change and so on.
  
  As the temperatures go up, the polar caps will melt. This will cause global sea levels to rise on average. Again, for most places the local sea levels will also go up, but for some, they will actually go down. This is because the Earth’s crust is floating on a liquid mantle. If you remove huge masses of ice by melting it, then this causes a redistribution of the weight. Greenland, will actually rise, as the weight of ice is removed. Places around the tropics, however, will flood.
  
  However, in my opinion, the most scary thing is the consequence of the _combination_ of global warming with the issue of human overpopulation. If a low-lying country floods (for example Bangladesh, which has a population of about 160 million), then the people have to move. This will put massive pressure on the neighbouring countries. Huge migrations and the struggle for resources will mean severe food shortages and famine.
  
  However, I also can see that this would lead to war. In the same way that wars of old were because of moving populations and attempts to capture resources and land, the pressures brought on our land and resources by the combination of global warming and over population will be too much.
  
  I’m sorry for being pessimistic, but I fear that unless we can stop it, global warming will ultimately lead to war, long before the planet boils or anything like that.
- Tom Crick answered on 19 Jun 2011:
  
  The scientific consensus is that global warming is occurring and has been initiated by human activities, especially those that increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as deforestation and burning of fossil fuels.
  
  An increase in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise; warming is expected to be strongest in the Arctic and would be associated with continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely effects of the warming include more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events including heatwaves, droughts and heavy rainfall events, as well as species extinctions.
  
  Nevertheless, the Earth is an adaptable system and may be able to cope with this change in conditions, we just do not have enough data across a long enough period of time to make accurate long-term predictions.
- Sarah Thomas answered on 19 Jun 2011:
  
  Global warming could also have a terrible effect on the Earth’s ecosystems, as organisms natural habitats are effectively destroyed. This could lead to a loss of certain species.
  
  I think another problem is political. As the roots of global warming appear to be to do with emissions and pollution, certain countries are trying to cut the amount of pollution they produce, while others are not… This could lead to a lot of trouble in the future.

Question: What will happen if global warming continues

Comments