around what year will global warming start to effect the environment really really badly?

Question

on tv theyre saying around 2050 the normal temps will be around 125F!! when do u think its gonna be like this?

Answer 1

That's extremely difficult to predict. For one thing, how do you define "really badly"? The World Health Organization estimates that global warming currently causes 150,000 deaths per year. Is that "really bad" enough?

I would say the year 2050 is a fairly good estimate, though temperatures will not average 125°F. Global climate predictions estimate that we'll be somewhere in the ballpark of 2°C warmer around 2050 than we are now, which will have many negative consequences, such as widespread water shortages, almost all coral reefs dying out, etc. Somewhere around that date the Greenland Ice Sheet may also melt which will cause sea levels to rise 23 feet.

Of course, we have 4 decades between now and then to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the damage from global warming, so it's basically impossible to predict what will happen without knowing how we'll react beforehand. If we don't take sufficient action, I would say 2050 is when we'll really start feeling some of the worst effects of global warming, but by 2030 we'll have started to feel them.

Answer 2

The TV has given you an incorrect figure. At the moment global average temperatures are just below 15°C (59°F) and are currently rising by 0.0177°C per year. By 2050 the ave global temp will be 16°C (61°F).

Of course, that's an average across the whole planet, some places will be much hotter than that and others will be much colder.

The places with the highest average annual temperature is Dallol in Ethiopia, here the temperature averages 34°C (94°F). Even in the very worst case scenario it will be a long, long time before Dallol averages 125°F.

So, when will GW badly affect the environment? I guess the answer to that depends where you live more than anything else. If you're in Africa or Asia then there have already been extreme consequences with millions of lives lost, tens of millions displaced and hundreds of millions affected (sources - World Health Organisation, United Nations, IPCC).

In America and Europe the effects have been much less extreme but the indications are that things are getting worse. Many people on these continents will live out their lives almost unaware that global warming is happeneing because they won't be directly affected. There food may cost more due to crop failures in other parts of the world, they may have to make detours to avoid floods but that could be the extent of the impact on some people.

On a global scale global warming has already impacted really badly it's just that we don't often get to see the consequences because we're half a world away.

Answer 3

I'm not sure where you got the number 125F, but during the last major warming cycle of the earth, the average temperature was only about 7-8 degrees warmer than now.

Answer 4

It doesn't matter because we will be out of Fresh drinking water by 2025.

6 billion people in the world right now, and the population is not declining! Even if global warming is real people use so up so much water that it wouldn't matter either way. It's very simple math that everyone can understand...

P = the number of people in the world
X = average amount of fresh water a person use a day
L = amount of fresh water people produce a day
Y = the amount of stored fresh water on Earth
Z = amount of new fresh water the earth creates each day
As long as P*X is smaller than L+Y+Z we are OK. But L, Y, and Z are not growing fast enough to keep up which means pretty soon we run out of water.

Lakes and Rivers are disappearing but only because we are draining them, and most of those lakes are underground aquafiers.

The lake that disappeared in South America (In Argentina I believe ) was because of an earth temor that opened a fissure.

Answer 5

Too many value judgments here to give an answer. What do you mean by "really really badly" etc.

Most scientists use an increase of 2 degrees C over baseline as the "really really" bad value to avoid (toward which we have a total of about 1 to 1.5 degrees presently or "in the pipeline"). So there is talk about passing 2degC in the next 50 years or so.

Answer 6

It already has ... really, really badly.

Normal does not mean average, it means temperatures reaching as high as 125 in areas which usually never reach those temperatures before. It will be considered "normal" for an occasional heatwave to be that hot. That could easily happen by 2050.

That will not be the year round temperature, just a more frequent high. The range of record temperatures from lowest low to highest high will get wider. As will all weather related records. The wind will be stronger, storms bigger, more lightning causing forest fires, more tornadoes. It's gonna be a rough ride.

Answer 7

It already is. Hurricanes like the one that wiped out New Orleans are becoming more common. We'll see more coastal areas severely damaged every year. Deserts are spreading all over the world. People who can't grow crops or raise herds any more are already dying of hunger or disease. Island nations in the Pacific who depend on fish are finding fewer and fewer as the coral reefs that form the basis of their ecosystems die from the heat. Within 20 years many of the major rivers of the world will begin drying up as the glaciers that feed them disappear. Look out.

Answer 8

I do not think we can ever seperate how much of Global Warming is man made and how much is just the Earth's natural cycles.

Any major volcanic eruptions can also stall warming. A major eruption can cool the environment over 1 degree

Answer 9

In terms of human casualties, global warming might reduce the death rates. More people die from cold related sickness than from heat related.

Answer 10

with cool people like me on this planet, and more coming soon, global warming should not be a problem in the future.
I bet they will start worrying about global cooling.
Prepare for the ice-age!