1. Broad threat to humanity from cumulative climate hazards intensified by greenhouse gas emissions
- Author
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Leo V. Louis, Michael B. Kantar, Erik C. Franklin, Keith Bettinger, John F. Colburn Ix, Jonathan A. Patz, Christopher M. Little, Daniele Spirandelli, Evan W. Barba, Charlotte Z. Smith, Wendy Miles, Camilo Mora, Kerry Emanuel, Wolfgang Knorr, Justin Sheffield, Cynthia L. Hunter, Yukiko Hirabayashi, John Lynham, Abby G. Frazier, Kelle C. Freel, Jade Moy, Naota Hanasaki, and Ed Hawkins
- Subjects
education.field_of_study ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Population ,Climate change ,Storm ,Land cover ,010501 environmental sciences ,Environmental Science (miscellaneous) ,01 natural sciences ,Human health ,Environmental protection ,Greenhouse gas ,Humanity ,Environmental science ,Precipitation ,education ,Social Sciences (miscellaneous) ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
The ongoing emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is triggering changes in many climate hazards that can impact humanity. We found traceable evidence for 467 pathways by which human health, water, food, economy, infrastructure and security have been recently impacted by climate hazards such as warming, heatwaves, precipitation, drought, floods, fires, storms, sea-level rise and changes in natural land cover and ocean chemistry. By 2100, the world’s population will be exposed concurrently to the equivalent of the largest magnitude in one of these hazards if emmisions are aggressively reduced, or three if they are not, with some tropical coastal areas facing up to six simultaneous hazards. These findings highlight the fact that GHG emissions pose a broad threat to humanity by intensifying multiple hazards to which humanity is vulnerable.
- Published
- 2018
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