In the second part of The Uninhabitable Earth, written by David Wallace-Wells, he discusses many different elements of chaos that could eventually leave catastrophic damage to the earth. One of the elements that he brings up is the element of hunger. He discusses a few different scenarios that could happen in the case of the planet warming by a few degrees which could lead to less food being produced. He cited the United Nations and how the planet will need nearly twice as much food in 2050 as it does today. This is very concerning because Wallace-Wells also stated that the population will continue to grow which means that we will have even more people and even less food. He also talked about the problem of a drought happening which would make the food production problem even worse. He stated that even just two degrees of warming would harm the Mediterranen and a lot of India, corn, and sorghum. This would cause a huge strain on the global food supply. He then mentioned that at a raised 2.5 degrees, the planet would enter a global food deficit which means that it will need more calories than the planet can produce. This is terrifying to think about because food is obviously one of the most essential parts to survival and without it, survival is impossible.
Wallace-Wells cited Jeff Goodells book, The Water Will Come, which listed off many monuments that will be underwater during this century. He mentioned places such as the White House, most of Bangladesh, and much of South Florida. This is very unsettling to me because my family just moved to Florida. Whether or not this does happen during this century, when it eventually does happen our world will be completely changed forever. Entire families will have to relocate which will make some cities become overcrowded. He also talked about how the Greenland ice sheet could reach a tipping point at just 1.2 degrees of global warming. This would result in the ice sheet being melted which would raise sea levels six meters. This would eventually drown large cities such as Miami, London, and Shanghai. Also, many populated states in the U.S., such as New York, Florida, and New Jersey, would be almost completely underwater. San Francisco and Sacramento would be completely underwater. While this is unsettling to think about, we need to start finding solutions now in order to fix the problem that we have created for ourselves. These issues will eventually occur and we have to find solutions now in order to save as many lives as we can.
In The Uninhabitable Earth the author discusses unbreathable air and the negative effects that it will have on an individual in the future. Wallace-Wells stated that by 2090, there could potentially be 2 billion people that will be breathing in air that is above the WHO safe level. This is unsettling because this will affect such a high number of people. Even short term exposure to pollution can increase the rates of respiratory infections dramatically. The author also claims that currently there are more than 10,000 deaths that happen daily due to air pollution. When thinking about this and comparing it to the fact that air pollution will increase in the future, it is concerning that this number is already so high.
Environmental Science 