I'm sure you have heard about the planet getting warmer? Or that the polar ice caps are melting and the past 10 years rank among the warmest years on record for global surface temperature since 1850? And that sea levels are rising and we are exposed to huge surges causing mass coastal flooding? Most of us (with the exception of President Trump and his Administration) have worked out that climate change is real, is affecting the ocean and environment and the consequences of our collective actions will effect us and our loved ones for many decades to come. Each and every person living on our planet faces an uncertain future as we reach and pass those critical climate milestone – tipping points of no return – where the damage to the planet will be catastrophic.

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What Does the Future Look Like?

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If we continue on our current path, our future will include rising sea levels (up to 25 meters), huge storm surges, mass coastal flooding, crop yields faltering, increasing food shortages, inland flooding, catastrophic wildfires, ferocious hurricanes and storms, scarce water supplies, no polar ice caps, raging wildfires, widespread droughts, extreme heatwaves, disease and poverty.

From this point onward, each year will become gradually worse. It’s already started. That far distant date of is not far and distant any longer. People talked about 2100 being the point we reach 2ºC. You probably thought you didn’t need to worry about it, not going to affect you, your loved ones and your family? Well, that date is wrong. The year 2036 is the new projection. That’s less than 20 years in the future.

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But its actually worse than that. Practically all climate scientists now agree the maximum temperature increase the Earth can tolerate is 2ºC. That’s the point when billions of people begin to fight for their survival. The bad news is we are potentially looking at temperature increases of 3.7ºC or more because we (all 7.6 billion of us) are producing every increasing amounts of carbon dioxide which is in turn responsible for trapping heat in our atmosphere. And, as more heat gets trapped, our planet becomes warmer than it would be naturally (hence the name global warming).

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Yes, there are both natural and human sources of carbon dioxide emissions. The natural sources include decomposition, ocean release and respiration. And man-made sources come from activities like cement production, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels including coal, oil and natural gas. The issue is that majority – 87% - comes from burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil. Deforestation and / or the cultivation of land (9%) also releases vast quantities of carbon dioxide, produced by bacteria, into the atmosphere. as well as some industrial processes such as cement manufacturing (4%). Of the 3 types of fossil fuels used, coal is responsible for 43% of carbon dioxide emissions, 36% is produced by oil and 20% from natural gas.

Almost all industrialized nations get the majority of their electricity from the combustion of fossil fuels (around 60-90%). There are a few exceptions and many have plans to change. But unfortunately, depending on the energy mix of your local power company you probably will find that the electricity that you use at home and at work has a considerable impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The move to renewables is not happening fast enough.

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This could be a long story but to cut it short, the planet is rapidly heating up to the extent that we no longer talk of a 2ºC (3.6ºF) rise but of rises over 3ºC (5.4ºF). And this matters a huge amount. So much so that our fate and the fate of our children and grandchildren lies in what we do in the next few years. If left unchecked with no effort being made to adapt to the changing climate, the continuing increase in carbon dioxide levels will have serious economic and environmental impacts across the planet.