A “1000 Year” Lethal Legacy

New shocking research on climate change has been published. The alarming research is not from a pressure group but published by Britain’s Environment Agency, and written by scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change.

The study, the first of its kind to examine climate change impacts beyond the end of this century, concluded that over the next millennium temperatures could increase by up to 15°C and seas rise by up to 11.4 metres, with vaste swathes of low-lying areas around the world under water.

The report’s dire predictions include:

Global and regional warming could more than quadruple after 2100: Temperatures could rise from 1.5°C if emissions are minimised to as much as 15°C if we continue burning fossil fuels – more than four times the predictions for the year 2100.
Sea levels will still be rising at the end of this millennium and could reach 11.4m by year 3000: London, Bangladesh, Florida and many low lying cities will all be threatened. Hundreds of millions of people will be displaced;
Abrupt climate change events could occur: Business-as-usual emissions could lead to the collapse of currents in the Atlantic, causing North Atlantic sea temperatures to fall by 3°C, affecting agriculture and marine life particularly at the latitude of the UK.
These abrupt climate changes can happen long after emissions cease: Abrupt changes may be triggered many decades before they actually occur. Even after emissions have completely ceased there is still a legacy from decades past – a “sleeping giant” in the climate system;
Ocean pH will fall dramatically: Ocean pH is predicted to fall dramatically posing a threat to marine organisms, such as corals and plankton.
Potential climate changes could be much greater, and avoidance of dangerous climate change even harder, than currently projected: Climate changes could be even greater if the climate system turns out to be more sensitive to the level of greenhouse gas emissions than the conservative assumptions made in this study. Only by minimising emissions, which means reducing them to zero in 2200 – can dangerous climate change be avoided.

How many alarm bells need to ring before our politicians take the appropriate action?