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Rising global temperature means more than just extra time to wear shorts and sandals. An increase of just a few degrees in average temperature can cause dramatic changes in conditions that are important to the quality of life—and even the Earth’s ability to support life. My question is Should I be worried about climate change? Will it affect me personally?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It will affect people differently, as already evidenced just this past year. Unfortunate people living in the Northeast got hit with nasty snow in early 2015, another year of drought in the southwest, more recently floods in Texas, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Mississippi. meanwhile, here in the northwest, we enjoyed a much milder than normal winter, many more sunny days winter through spring, yet plenty of water from normal or more rain and mountain snow. We have not had snow that stuck enough to affect traffic since 2012, just 2" in the winter of 2013-14 and none since.
It will affect you personally when agriculture collapses in California.
The thing is, the prognostications are NOT taking into consideration the methane release in the arctic regions, already underway but expected to not only accelerate, but to manifest sooner or later as a massive "burp", releasing extreme tonnage of the stuff into the atmosphere. The current climate change maps and timelines are based only on CO2 production. So how bad things will get within your lifetime, OP, is a wild card. However, some governments are expecting food shortages by 2040. The UN is advising developing nations to scale down their GDP growth projections, due to weather anomalies affecting crops and water supplies in the next couple of decades.
It will affect you personally when agriculture collapses in California.
The thing is, the prognostications are NOT taking into consideration the methane release in the arctic regions, already underway but expected to not only accelerate, but to manifest sooner or later as a massive "burp", releasing extreme tonnage of the stuff into the atmosphere. The current climate change maps and timelines are based only on CO2 production. So how bad things will get within your lifetime, OP, is a wild card. However, some governments are expecting food shortages by 2040. The UN is advising developing nations to scale down their GDP growth projections, due to weather anomalies affecting crops and water supplies in the next couple of decades.
It increases food production significantly. More people die from cold than heat related incidents, etc. etc.
Plants and animals do have a greater problem.
The real issue with a warming climate is how quick the change and the human response. My sense is humans will do fairly well as a species. There will be some problems in sectors of the economy
The was a book written on the little ice age in Europe that is interesting reading since it does talk about affects on humans. But that was "colder" temps not warmer.
I am a great deal more worried about the Yellowstone Caldera exploding. But then, why worry about things over which one has absolutely NO control?
The climate, IMO, is going to change no matter what puny things mankind does to change it.
Perhaps when mankind starts to do something to mitigate the inevitable results of climate change ("Many global cities will flood."), I will believe governments are really serious about it.
So far, I haven't seen any indication that governments are doing anything except a lot of hand-wringing about CO2 and methane.
Higher food prices. Water rationing. More intense and frequent heat waves. Changes in weather patterns.
It's already happening.
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