Climate Change. Usual story. Polar bears are losing their homes, after all, what do I care? I’ve come to realise how little we really know of climate change, a theory ‘scientists’ seem to debate is even happening. Very likely to be the biggest transformation of the 21st century. For better or for worse, it's up to us to decide. Waiting for fossil fuels to run out is in simple terms, waiting for the enemy to point his gun at your head before you surrender. This article’s purpose isn't to make you depressed about the future; it's a wake-up call to tell you that there is still time to make a comeback. I know you might not want to join the movement now, but if you do change your mind after reading this, please go to our website and help us make a difference. Or simply deal with the consequences of your actions; it’s up to you.

1 - Drowning Cities and Death of Countries

Before the industrial revolution, there was 280 ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Today, more than 200 years later, we are at about 407 ppm. To make matters worse, the carbon dioxide molecules in the air can stay in our atmosphere for a few centuries. This rise in temperature, due to increased CO2 in our atmosphere, has caused the Earth to heat up by 0.8 degrees since the 1800s. This increase in temperature has caused two trillion tonnes of ice to melt from 2003 to 2008 alone. Hidden below all this arctic ice are methane crystals, which if exposed to air will release millions of tonnes worth of methane gas. The sea levels are also rising, having doubled in the last 80 years. Sea levels are expected to rise two and a half meters by the end of the century, which would drown coastal cities like: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Singapore and partially New York City. Then there’s islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and in Oceania where much of their land mass will go underwater by the end of the century. Maldives is estimated to have 77 percent of its land mass underwater by 2100 and might even be the first nation to go completely underwater. This flooding will create a new issue the world will need to deal with which we will call “climate refugees.”

2 – Bangladesh and Maldives, a Generation of Refugees

Worldwide there have been island nations that have had 20,000 citizens leave their homes due to rising sea levels. Climate change has also caused tropical storms to severely worsen, which has led to 25 million climate refugees. When the sea levels do rise, people all around the world, including Europe and the United States will have their own citizens as climate refugees moving inland or north. Floods in Texas and hurricanes surrounding the Caribbean and Florida will progressively worsen with rising sea levels combined with warmer waters for hurricanes to develop in. With some research even suggesting climate change could have had an effect on the war in Syria and resulting refugee crisis as droughts were made severe by rising temperatures. Combining climate refugees with existing refugees and future wars over water caused by massive droughts - the future doesn’t look too bright. Quark has estimates from reports that by 2050, there could be 200 million refugees, as many people will attempt to seek refuge in Canada, northern Europe and Russia, although most won’t make it. Charles Geisler, a sociologist at Cornell University puts the number of climate refugees at two billion by 2100. Predictions from Climate Wars, by Gwynne Dyer, state that by 2026, there could be half a million refugees trying to cross the U.S border every month. Dyer believes countries will then begin de-globalizing as they will only be able to provide food for themselves and other more unfortunate nations will not even be able to feed their own citizens, which leads us to winners and losers.

3 - Winners and Losers

Africa, as well as other developing countries around the world, will face extreme difficulties as vast amounts of land will be too hot for native plants and regions of drought will replace rivers. The situation in Africa will be significantly more distressing considering 64 percent of all Africans live off agriculture. In 2050, climate change will put 158 trillion dollars at risk, equal to double the annual output of the global economy. I want you to take out a globe or an image of one. Then, I want you to point out which countries you think will be winners and which you think will be losers and tell me which do you think will be the majority. Undoubtedly, it will be the losers. Even now, Bangladesh is starting to experience floods and rising sea levels that caused Atiq Rahman, an executive director of Bangladesh Centre of Advanced Studies to plead: “For every 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide [developed and developing nations] emit, you have to take a Bangladesh family with you.” And Rahman is completely right. It is extremely unfair for most of the losers (though we should probably call them the unfortunates), as they did not impose this on themselves as most of Africa and Bangladesh are suffering from the emissions of the developed world. How many cuts in emissions do we need to keep temperatures from rising past two degrees by 2100? If we don't, how high will temperatures reach?

4 - Gradual Heating

Many countries have set the target of 450 ppm (of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere), that leads to a 50 percent chance that we could stop the acceleration of heating at two degrees higher than pre-industrial level. If we reach 550 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere we could expect a rise of three to four degrees. Think of the Earth as a human. For many, emission cuts by 2050 seems a long way away and a two-degree rise in temperature over 200 years may seem very little, but if you were to rise two degrees in body temperature you would have a pretty bad fever and if you rose another one or two degrees, it could be fatal. The larger problem with rising temperatures are the other side effects that come with it. These include storms, droughts, destruction of eco-systems and plants that are now at the maximum temperature that they are able to grow well in. Animals are also not adapting quick enough to cope with climate change, leaving most of them no foreseeable future. NASA believes temperatures could hit a maximum of six degrees higher by 2100. We likewise can’t wait for fossil fuels to run out, as there are plenty of oil deposits to boil our planet several times over. There is no easy path to solving climate change. That’s why our combined global effort is crucial to keeping warning from rising past two degrees. “We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet” - Leonardo DiCaprio.

5 - Man-made meteor strike?

The chances of us being able to feed our global population by the end of the century are extremely low. The global middle class is increasing in wealth and is pleading for protein and meat such as red meat, eggs and milk. The problem with this is that a kilogram of beef requires 13,000 litres of water to make and livestock itself takes up one-third of all the crops grown worldwide. All one and a half billion cows worldwide each produce 70-120kg of methane. This in perspective is the equivalent of burning 1000 litres of petrol per cow every year. Weather storms and heat waves caused by climate change have, and will, more frequently destroy crops and livestock. Examples of this are in India, where 17 million chickens died in 2011 and the US where 6500 cows died in 2015 from high-intensity heat waves. Warmer and more acidic waters are also heavily impacting sea life. In 2016, Australia experienced the worst level of coral mortality. The worst area hit, an area of 435-miles, had 67 percent of all its coral killed. These more acidic waters are also less able to store carbon dioxide. The oceans currently hold 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere does. The more acidic our ocean gets, the more carbon dioxide that is going to into the atmosphere, hence the more warming. As shown, if we continue on this route, we will reach a point where we will have no options left, no other places to search for food. “We have become so successful at controlling nature that we have lost our connection to it” - Al Gore.

6 - The Industrialisation of Developing Nations

The three to four worlds diet is what the North American and British diets are often referred to, which as you can see means that to feed the whole population of Earth that same diet you would need three to four new worlds. Likewise, we currently need 30 percent more land on Earth to be able to feed the whole world sustainably in current conditions. But developing nations don’t want to keep these current conditions, instead, they want to industrialise like the western countries and others did 200 years ago, but instead, in just a few decades at max. They want to obtain our carbon-intensive and highly-unsustainable lifestyles. If in 2050 we start looking for solutions to overpopulation, climate change will surely destroy any attempt to remain living with the same lifestyle as we do now. Developing nations also want to industrialise as cheaply as possible, meaning fossil fuels will be the main source of power. Industrialising also requires a larger workforce, which will be the main driver of overpopulation. Developing nations today are already the main drivers of population growth that amount to 75 million new people being added to our total population every year, together amounting to 97 percent of global population growth. It’s funny how with all the future consequences of our actions, our best solution in mind is to turn this entire idea into a debate. Tell the world scientists don’t even agree with themselves about this ‘theory.’ This isn’t a debate, it never was. “We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” - David Brower.

7 – The Forests That Helped Us Evolve

Could you run the area of an entire football field in 1.2 seconds? Or the area of 50 football fields in one minute? The size of three UK’s worth of trees has been cut down from the Amazon rainforest. With 18 million acres being cut down worldwide every year or roughly the size of Panama. Half the world’s tropical forests have been cleared out, contributing to 6-12 percent of yearly carbon emissions. With the added bonus that those trees won’t be able to absorb our carbon emissions once we’ve cut them down. Look around. Look at any wooden furniture; tables, wardrobes, chairs and ask yourself, would I prefer to have a piece of furniture to place my books on or a planet to put my grandkids on? We are on a good path; we only have 100 years left of forests at this rate. I’m not even sure what to call it anymore, is it selfish to consume until our extinction? There is 40 times more carbon dioxide stored in forests than we are emitting each year. Deforestation isn’t anything new either. Since the 1600s, The U.S. has removed 90 percent of its indigenous forests. All the forests on Earth absorb 8.8 billions tonnes of carbon dioxide a year or 26 percent of all carbon emissions. All the trees that are cut down, even if they are not burnt, still release all the carbon dioxide absorbed. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” - The Lorax, Dr. Seuss.

8 - Wars Over Water?

To show the impacts climate change will have, we will focus on one example: Jordan, in which droughts there are expected to double by 2100. Although this doesn’t seem so bad over 80 years, the situation in Jordan is already extremely tough. Being one of the four poorest nations on Earth, each citizen has a staggering 145,000 litres available per person, far below the “absolute scarcity” level of 500,000 litres. Take into account that this is the amount of fresh water ‘available’ in Jordan, not necessarily the amount given to each citizen (which is likely to be far lower). The water usage of the British stands at 12 million litres (per person) per year. So the next time you feel too lazy to fill up the dishwasher completely, just remember for every 82 glasses worth of water you use, someone in Jordan will use less than one. Jordan has a projected increase in temperature of 4.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. The population of Jordan is also increasing fast, having doubled in the last 20 years. Many countries are going through and will go through the same circumstances as Jordan. This will all cause waves of climate refugees attempting to move northward. “What most people fail to realise is that we will never truly destroy the Earth. The planet will always remain & its nature will change and adapt to new conditions. We can only destroy humanity.” - Green Is Not a Colour by Devan Valenti & Simon Atlas.

9 – The Facts, the Urgency and the Point of No Return

To evaluate, by the end of the century, the sea level is expected to rise two and half meters, inundating cities like Amsterdam and New York. The more time that goes by without having combated climate change, the worse the consequences will be. With 158 trillion dollars at risk in 2050, it's a safe bet to say that our economies, societies and industries will all collapse by the end of this century if we don't act now, not just a piece of ice beneath a polar bear. The largest problem we will face won’t be gradual warming, it will be when we reach the point of no-return. A point where the climate will, regardless of our actions, change forever. Although we’re not all going to be affected equally by climate change, we’re all equally responsible, maybe some more than others, but we should all put the same effort into fighting climate change. “We are all living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.” - Jerri Swearingen.

Although many may say that they were born too late for the age of the internet and too early for the age of space travel, we are all born just in time to combat climate change. After all, combating climate change is far more important than the tech age and the new incoming space age combined. “Global Warming is not only the number one environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity." Leonardo DiCaprio.

Once again, this article has been written solely to raise awareness and I’m sure after all that you’ve read if we don’t start a movement now, we are all heading straight for global collapse. Joining this movement is a lot easier than you’d ever imagine as it all begins at our website (www.ccro.earth). That's why we’re helping you to change the world.

CCRO | www.ccro.earth

Climate Change Reversal Organization

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