FUTURE CLIMATE PREDICTIONS

As climate change is an intricate puzzle of interacting systems that scientists are still working to clearly grasp, predictions of future climate change are never definite. These general predictions are based on the work of David Gates, author of Climate Change and its Biological Consequences, Sunderland, Mass. Sinauer Associates, c1993.

 

Other predictions for the future reiterate and elaborate on much of Gates'. Scientists predict in terms rising sea levels: saltier coastal groundwater, endangered wetlands, and the inundation of coastal communities. In terms of changing precipitation patterns, wild plants and animals would experience great difficulty in adaptation and migration as habitat changes. In addition, "a more vigorous hydrological cycle" results in severe droughts/floods, extreme rainfall and snowfall, and severe stress on forests and wetlands (Union of Concerned Scientists).

Predictions specific to human health include an increased range of insect-borne diseases that are now confined to tropical regions. Agriculture faces severe impacts as predictions include the expansion of deserts, and a shifting of productive land areas.

 

Sources:

*Gates, David. Climate Change and its Biological Consequences. Sunderland, Mass. Sinauer Associates, c1993.

Hare, Bill. Fossil Fuels and Climate Protection: The Carbon Logic. Greenpeace International. (www.greenpeace.org).

Environment Canada: Climate Change - Indicator: Global atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (www.ec.gc.ca/Ind/english/Climate).

The National Council for Science and the Environment. Morrissey, W.A. and Justus, J.R. Resources, Science, and Industry Division. The Congressional Research Service Issue Brief- Global Climate Change: Science and Policy, Sept. 19, 2000. IB89005.

Union of Concerned Scientists - The Science of Global Warming (www.ucsusa.org/warming/gw.science.html).

 

Back to Climate Change

Back to Home