When will the effects of global warming be near-catastrophic?

Question

If the greenhouse effect ever becomes so increasingly harmful to our survival as human beings, when is the estimated time in which it would occur?

Answer 1

That depends on our greenhouse gas emissions. If we make significant cuts (50-90% by 2050), we can avoid the worst consequences of global warming. If we fail to reduce our emissions, then the effects will no doubt eventually be catastrophic. It's very hard to pinpoint a date when the effects will become clearly visible, but from what I've read we'll start to see them around 2030, and by around 2050 things will start to get very bad. But again that depends on how much we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Answer 2

The worst effects, if they come, will be several thousand years in the future. We do not really understand CO2 positive feedback and sequestration processes thoroughly, but we do know that they tend to be slow---acting over hundreds, or even thousands of years. The pessimistic scenario for global warming is that we trigger rapid positive feedback, and the corrective natural sequestration is much slower. This circumstance may occur because climatic warming that is as rapid as the present day is very rare or possibly non-existent in the past, and so we have no basis of comparison.

Answer 3

The answer could be anywhere between the next 50 years to never.

It depends almost entirely at this point on the political response of the American Government, and to a lesser extent the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries. If we get some response to the data soon, it is possible a catastrophy can be avoided. If we have 8 more years like the past 8, life on earth will probably end before 2100.

Answer 4

Define "near catastrophic". The effects are already catastophic; deaths directly attributable to GW are currently 150,000 per year and expected to rise sharply in the future.

The floods and heat waves will kill millions, but if you want to ignore the canaries in the coal mine ... the first major crop failure will cause more deaths by a single cause than any event before in history.

Answer 5

Never. Even if all the ice melts there will still be DRY LAND (that's right, Waterworld was just a movie).

As long as we have sources of energy we can have air conditioning and therefore it doesn't really matter how hot it gets (and farmland will just move North).

But we better do something today, because TOMORROW IT WILL BE TOO LATE. (Be back tomorrow to receive same prediction).

Answer 6

By, 2200

An Earth day will be 0.12 milliseconds shorter, as rising temperatures cause oceans to expand away from the equator and toward the poles, one model predicts. One reason water will be shifted toward the poles is most of the expansion will take place in the North Atlantic Ocean, near the North Pole. The poles are closer to the Earth's axis of rotation, so having more mass there should speed up the planet's rotation. (Felix Landerer, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Geophysical Research Letters)

Answer 7

There is not enough data to give a reliable figure.
The effects of enviro-tax schemes will prove near catasrophic though.

Answer 8

I think that we are on the verge of catastrophic because we know that the world coastlines will be flooded and millions of people will need to move. This of, course, will lead to violence. Its best to prepare now.

Don't worry humans will still be around in the billions.

Global Warming is causing Climate Change. which is most notable in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Answer 9

Never. Unless you believe people can predict the future.

Don't waste your life living in a state of fear because someone in a sandwich board is telling you the world is coming to an end.

Answer 10

assuming you are correct in thinking that global warming is actually a problem...

About 2350 we might have a problem if temperatures continue to increase at the rates predicted by the doom and gloom global warming alarmists.