Our planet is heating up at a record pace, one humanity, even with our technology and resilience, might not be able to contend with. Now, a team of over 200 researchers has issued a dire warning, saying we’re headed for a pivotal moment in human history that we’re not ready for.
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00:00Our planet is heating up at a record pace.
00:06One humanity, even with our technology and resilience, might not be able to contend with.
00:11Now a team of over 200 researchers has issued a dire warning, saying we're headed for a
00:16pivotal moment in human history, one we're not ready for.
00:20The report looks specifically at ecological tipping points, where climate change will
00:23cause massive shifts in ecosystems and a domino effect of climate catastrophes.
00:29Examples include Greenland's ice sheet melting, a mass which contains around 8% of our planet's
00:33fresh water.
00:34That amount of fresh water into Earth's oceans will change currents, acidify its waters,
00:39and raise sea levels substantially.
00:41Just to name a few issues.
00:42That will also mean the ocean can't sequester as much carbon from our atmosphere, leading
00:46to higher greenhouse gas concentrations and more warming.
00:49See?
00:50Domino effect.
00:51The researchers focused on quantifying the financial and human costs of such catastrophic
00:55changes, saying it could cost us trillions of dollars in climate damage.
00:59However, they say climate change has already led to food scarcity for over 27 million children
01:04globally.
01:05That number is only expected to rise, as droughts and other climate events take hold in regions
01:10that have been relatively unaffected thus far.
01:13The report concludes by saying that the way we've been doing things is now over, and that
01:17if things don't change, our species will pay the cost.