The science is pretty clear on measurable things like average warming and sea level rise.
The insurance industry has weighed in on whether they think it will be profitable to insure homeowners in some parts of the world. They stand to lose money if they are wrong about risk, so they are in the business of being not wrong about risk, in the aggregate.
The social science is a lot less clear on specific human impacts. That includes economics, public health, and warfare.
However, big changes in things like “whether some land can sustain crops” or “whether some town is on fire” have caused various famous bits of history.
It is a bit irritating that quite a lot of the world is increasingly dependent on air-conditioning for summertime habitability, at the same time that we’re trying to stabilize a transition to more climate-friendly forms of electric power generation.
Personally, I’m still more worried about the bees — pollinator decline specifically, and insect decline generally. The whole food web of nature depends on insects, and humans have spent a lot of resources on manufacturing lots of poisons that specifically target the nervous systems of insects and other small crawly critters.
The climate can shift, and humanity will adapt. But if we crash the entire ecosystem by killing off the bugs, we’re in a much worse situation.
The science is pretty clear on measurable things like average warming and sea level rise.
The insurance industry has weighed in on whether they think it will be profitable to insure homeowners in some parts of the world. They stand to lose money if they are wrong about risk, so they are in the business of being not wrong about risk, in the aggregate.
The social science is a lot less clear on specific human impacts. That includes economics, public health, and warfare.
However, big changes in things like “whether some land can sustain crops” or “whether some town is on fire” have caused various famous bits of history.
It is a bit irritating that quite a lot of the world is increasingly dependent on air-conditioning for summertime habitability, at the same time that we’re trying to stabilize a transition to more climate-friendly forms of electric power generation.
Personally, I’m still more worried about the bees — pollinator decline specifically, and insect decline generally. The whole food web of nature depends on insects, and humans have spent a lot of resources on manufacturing lots of poisons that specifically target the nervous systems of insects and other small crawly critters.
The climate can shift, and humanity will adapt. But if we crash the entire ecosystem by killing off the bugs, we’re in a much worse situation.