5 Surprising Climate Change Facts
Climate change is a complicated issue, and many of the facts can be shocking to hear out loud. In most cases, it makes people question why the world is dragging its feet when such a disaster is looming over society.
Here are five facts that most people still don’t know about climate change.
1. The United States Spent Over $690 Billion Due to Climate Change In the Last 5 Years
Many people still like to pretend that climate change isn’t here or that it will never be here, but that’s just wrong. It is here, and we are literally paying billions to recover from the extreme weather it causes.
In just the United States, over $690 billion has been spent to recover from natural disasters like forest fires and hurricanes. It is over double the amount from the previous five years. And that number will just keep growing.
2. Just Because the World Is Warming, It Doesn’t Mean There Won’t Be Cold Weather
One of the silliest and most ridiculous things to ever happen in the Senate was when senator Inhofe brought a snowball to the Senate floor. He claimed it was cold outside, thus global warming isn’t real. And he isn’t the only one that tries to say this.
Whenever there is some very strong or unusual winter weather, people are quick to ask where is global warming now?
Just because the world is getting warmer, it doesn’t mean that winter weather is gone. In reality, climate change is actually making extreme winter weather worse. This is because the Arctic region is heating up, which disturbed the polar vortex.
As a result, the cold weather is moving into different regions that normally would have been blocked.
3.Despite Climate Pledges, The World Is Not On Track
If you’ve been paying attention, major headlines are mentioning new pledge after pledge around the world. Yet despite all of this, the world isn’t on track with the Paris Agreement. Instead of limiting global warming to 1.5C, we are on track for 2.4C.
It might not sound like a lot, but it is a huge difference that will wreak havoc on our world. In fact, most pledges are not being kept and many are actually going in the opposite direction.
Due to the popularity of going green, politicians are quick to make promises they can’t deliver.
4. We Will Have Less Food Choices
Biodiversity is at risk because of climate change. Many tend to think that only species that we don’t use are at risk, but that’s simply not the case. Nasa recently concluded that Maize Corm will see a 24% decline.
And it’s not alone. Even coffee is starting to feel the heat, so to speak.
This will lead to fewer choices and ultimately hurt food production. Even more devastating is that certain crops may need to be grown in different regions, which could significantly affect prices and availability around the world.
Plants will not be the victim either. Fish will get smaller and less nutritious.
5. We Still Don’t Know the Full Extent of Climate Change
Science has really come a long way over the last century, but there is still so much we don’t know. Just recently, it was concluded that the world was heating up faster than previously thought. This is causing serious concerns of whether the current plans were ever enough.
There’s no doubt that the worst of climate change is still on the way.
Robert has been following and writing about environmental stories for years at GreenGeeks. He believes that highlighting environmentally friendly practices can help promote change in every household.
