Free Daily Reads 2022: Article 42

Article Title: Scorched Earth, 2200AD

Article Summary

The author of this articles focuses on a very grave problem of climate change and its capability to collapse an entire civilisation. The author describes the destruction caused by the climate change in 1200 BCE during the Bronze Age, the tremendous climate-induced upheavals in the 17th century and the cooling of the planet during the Ice Age. Such drastic climatic changes had led to a catastrophic loss of humans, animals and the entire civilisations. While all these destructions were natural, now is the time when man will be responsible for the destruction caused due to climate change. It has been estimated that the temperatures are going to rise by four degrees Celsius or more by the end of this century. This change will mean that large parts of the planet would be unlivable outdoors. Further changes may lead to mass migrations from humid places, flooding due to rise in sea-level, drying up of surface water, severe water scarcity and starvation and widespread outbreaks of epidemics. However, the study of history shows that coping with such catastrophes require resources that only central governments command. Humanity’s 500 million remaining souls will survive in towering high rises in dense urban areas creating their culture anew atop the world.