| Tom Levitt, MSN |
Climate Change: the world in 2055
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If we do not reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and continue to allow global temperatures to rise then what kind of world can the next generation expect to live in?
The film The Age of Stupid, released earlier this year, imagined a world devastated by climate change in 2055. A world which did not do anything to tackle rising global temperatures. The sole survivor compiled footage of the world in 2008 in an attempt to provide a warning to other civilisations.
One of the present-day characters in the film comments we'd have to be 'stupid' not to take action but there is still no certainty that we will. In its most recent report the independent body responsible for tracking climate change, the IPCC, says the evidence of our planet warming is now unequivocal. Average air temperatures are increasing, glaciers are melting and global sea levels are rising.
"My plea would be to please listen to and reflect on the voice of science, and please act with determination and a sense of urgency. We in the IPCC do not prescribe any specific action, but action is a must," chairman Rajendra Pachauri told global leaders at climate talks in December 2008.
What kind of world can we expect if we do not act? While scientists are not able to give precise predictions they have been able to give a range of possible outcomes from continued temperature rises.
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