If you mean does it present any real threat of human extinction then the answer is obvioulsy no. Climate change does present humanity with a range of challenges, many of which may not yet be fully apparent but in terms of ecological threat it is minimal.

The humn race is in fact faced with many more serious and imminent threats and the fixation with climate change, at the expense of seeking solutions for them will probably cause major catastrophes in human terms over the next few decades.

The most obvious one is the world population expansion.

Actually it is cycle, after every 31 years it changes, yes it is a theat in present cycle, but we expect that coming 31 years are good as it was seen before, it now CC has both +ve as well as -ve impacts, lots of literature is already available on the web

Yes it does.

If you mean does it present any real threat of human extinction then the answer is obvioulsy no. Climate change does present humanity with a range of challenges, many of which may not yet be fully apparent but in terms of ecological threat it is minimal.

The humn race is in fact faced with many more serious and imminent threats and the fixation with climate change, at the expense of seeking solutions for them will probably cause major catastrophes in human terms over the next few decades.

The most obvious one is the world population expansion.

If humanity does not adapt to the changes in climate (by denying it or joking about it), then they will be threatened much more.

Undoubtedly, climate change is the greatest threat to humanity. Just remember the enormous damage that in Puerto Rico last year left a Category 5 hurricane. These hurricanes will become more frequent and intense as concentrations of greehouse gases incresase causing a quickly growing number of deaths and lost of infraestructure. CO2 concentration already exceeded this May 2018 during two days 412 ppm! To reduce emissions must stop extraction of natural gas, oil and coal, which is NOT done despite the compromisises made in UNO's COPs. A fast transition to renewables is urgent, as well a reduction in consumption in general, giving more importance to environmental aspects over the purely economic ones. That is not easy but is indeed achievable.

"To reduce emissions must stop extraction of natural gas, oil and coal"

If we do that hundreds of thousands will be killed by the consequences.

There is no possibility of a "fast transition to renewables" and while a reduction in consumption of fossil fuels is desirable we cannot do it without a realistic substitute.

That can only be provided by nuclear power, not windmills and environment polluting solar panels. It is already well established that renewables cannot provide the power that the Earth's population needs. By the end of the century the population will be 11 to 12 billion. We are going to need a lot more fuel, not less of it.

It is all very well calling for a lower priority for "economic aspects" but it is the economy that pays for our food, water and medicines. It is the economy that keeps our homes heated and our food refrigerated.

Without heating and refrigeration the death toll would be vastly higher than that caused by hurricanes. Without fossil fuels food distribution would grind to a halt and the death toll from that would be vastly higher than from freak weather.

Climate change is far from the greatest threat to humanity. The greatest threat to humanity at present is the fantasy of climate change, that being the politically motivated exaggeration of the 'problem'. While we dwell endlessly on that and dream up ever more fantastic catastophe scenarios we are ignoring the real threats that are here now.

We can adapt to climate change but we cannot adapt to being without food and water. The climate will continue changing but we can live with it.

With respect to all points of view, global warming is inevitable, as long as there is a fossil fuel burning, and, yes it's threatening human kind.

Of course yes.

Yes it is

Dear Amin,

Yes climate change is a threat to the future of mankind.

Best Regards.

Climate change is a natural phenomenon. The history of earth says about the different climatic conditions of the planet (hot or cold) through out the geological ages. Human has no control on it.

However, the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the climate of a locality /region can be controlled by the minimization of CO2 emission. Regards

In what ways will the increase in temperature of 2o (2050)- 4.5o (2100) threaten the future of the human race?

By the time we get to that rise in temperature the world's population will be in excess of 8.5 - 11.5 billion living in just about every climate region on its surface.

How will a slightly warmer climate manage to cause an extinction of such a vast number of individual animals in every part of the globe?

Why has climate change (on a much larger scale than this) in human history not caused our extinction? We have survived dramatic climate change at a time when as a species we were much more vulnerable.

The climate is going to keep changing and there is nothing we can do about it. If we tried anything as crazy as is being suggested by some of the Geo-engineering lobby we would cause tremendous damage to the planetary ecosystem, including ourselves. Even that however would not cause human extinction.

This is supposed to be a scientific debate, any chance of some science creeping in?

Most definitely yes!

Kenneth

Indeed, everytime anyone suggests building more nuclear power stations there is the howl about decommissioning costs.

Presumably the solar panels and vast concrete monstrosities will be exempt from the entropy that affects eveything else and be self-reparing.

Our planet is already covered in vast decaying structures of obsolete and failed engineering.

At the rate our population is increasing we will need to build accomodation and infrastructure for 50 million people a year for decades to come.

At a rough estimate (but more accurate than a climate model) we will need to build over 100 cities the size of Shanghai by 2100. powering those by renewables is going to be no mean feat.

The study about the climate change during the Permian Death (worst than the Dinosaur Death) have been published with lots of science facts for those interested in climate change. The temperature change was only 10 degrees C, 5 from volcanic eruptions and another 5 from the warming of the sea.

That Death event was very quick, short lasting event.

the only thing I think humans can do is retrace a bit the advance of climate change, nothing more.

best regards

No doubt, we can't control Climate change, but we got the ability to adopt mitigation measures. If we understand Climate change, it will affect us but will not harm us.

At some future time, climate change may indeed impact humankind ans the planet just as it has done in the past.

Currently, the climate change threats scientists and highly educated people. The trend of changes seems to be really dangerous, and it will receive more attention in the future by all people due to the resulting inconveniences. I agree with the scientific opinions that significant rule of humans cannot be made towards restoring the climate to safe conditions, but we shouldn't allow known human factors to increase i.e we should reduce all the related emissions that contribute to the climate changes even if their overall impacts are small!

The overall consequence of "Climate Change" is to make lives uncomfortable and awkward for the inhabitants (humans, animals and plants) of the Planet Earth.

Generally no. But we have to prepare and adapt.

The question should not be about climate change, but about minimising our impact on the environment on which we rely upon for clean air, clean water and food to survive. A rise in ocean temperature will kill of at lot marine life, a valuable food source for many. Human health is intricately intwined with the health of our planet. That is how complexity works. Biodiverse reforestation, rotating crops, reducing pesticides all contribute to maintaining the health of our planet. 8 years ago I started a company called SavinGreen which provided everyday services such as telecommunications and energy brokerage. Based on customer choice to use our services, we contributed to the planting of trees through Carbon Neutral in Western Australia. We have contributed to about 65,000 trees. The Yarra Yarra Biodiversity corridor, which was land trashed by monoculture cropping of wheat, is now a recognised Gold Standard project. Rainfall is changing is surrounding farms, benefiting local farmers.

https://carbonneutral.com.au/gold-standard/

So yes, if you decide to do something, you can make a difference. If enough people decide to do something, the difference can be huge.

"The overall consequence of "Climate Change" is to make lives uncomfortable and awkward for the inhabitants (humans, animals and plants) of the Planet Earth".

The lives of billions of people of the planet Earth are very uncomfortable and awkward now, and they were when atmospheric CO2 was at 'pre-industrial' levels.

This discomfort and awkwardness is a product of poverty that is a result of underdeveloped economies that cannot afford to educate and in many cases even feed their own people.

I agree with Dr. Barry. The climate change may have caused lives uncomfortable at some places of the planet. But, the prime cause of uncomfortably and awkwardness in greater part of the world (particularly in the third world) is the poverty. At many places, people are not getting the first basic needs to live (food, clothes and home). Imagine the conditions of war-victims - they are running for shelters. Regards

If all people become aware of environment, they can save themselves.

"...other problems and, specifically, lowered economic development, are greater threats to humanity than global warming".

"Regarding human health, the World Health Organization’s latest (2009) study on Global Health Risks provides estimates that indicate that global warming is presently outranked by at least 22 other health risk factors (Figure 2).27 By 2085, despite using impacts estimates that tend to overestimate net negative impacts, warming is projected to contribute less than one-seventh of the total mortality from hunger, malaria and extreme weather events, even under the warmest IPCC scenario (Figure 3). Thus, global warming is unlikely to be the most important health risk facing mankind in the foreseeable future, notwithstanding claims to the contrary"

From the article "Is Global Warming The Number One Threat To Humanity?" by Indur Goklany

https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2012/12/Goklany-Number-One-Threat.pdf

Regards

Yes. If the climate change continue at this rate, our lives are at risk

Climate change is new and complex. We don’t have all the answers. We are still learning how exactly the Earth reacts to increased CO2 and other greenhouse gases. We know it leads to warming seas which are melting the North and the South Poles, rising and starting to swallow entire coastal areas in the US and elsewhere, as the New York Times article documents. We know that the warming rising seas will swallow entire island nations that are about 25 percent of the UN vote and perhaps at the end, even our civilization. This realization is traumatic and the first reaction to trauma is denial. Since there is some remaining scientific uncertainty, a natural response is to deny that change is occurring. This is natural but it is very dangerous. Signs of a poorly understood but treatable house fire requires action, not inaction. While denial leads to certainty, it is only the certainty of death. This is true for individuals and also for civilizations.

Impressive remarks (Dr. Ali Benhmidene ). Regards

I think that yes. The climatic change is very strong

Surface water changes (1985-2016)

http://aqua-monitor.appspot.com

Earth's surface water change over the past 30 years

Gennadii Donchyts, Fedor Baart, Hessel Winsemius, Noel Gorelic, Jaap Kwadijk & Nick van de Giesen

Earth's surface gained 115,000 km2 of water and 173,000 km2 of land over the past 30 years, including 20,135 km2 of water and 33,700 km2 of land in coastal areas. Here, we analyse the gains and losses through the Deltares Aqua Monitor — an open tool that detects land and water changes around the globe.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3111

Dr.Barry - Really, good information on the surface water resources. Regards

Obviously, it will due to: sea-level increase, desertification, Glacier Lake Out Brust, Destruction of Ecological niches, spread of unusual and unexpected viral diseases, agriculture productivity so and so on ultimately lead to catastrophic destruction of mankind!

Best!

We are in a planetary emergency of environmental crisis with climate change being just a small part of it, although the urgency embedded in global warming, defines the priorities, indeed, climate change is threatening not only our planet and civilization but the human species’ survival in the Anthropocene era (Rockström et al., 2009).

The consequences of climate change will not be all bad. But the consequences negative effects will be far more devastating than the positive ones. To minimize those consequences, we have to take some measures and innovate for climate change mitigation and adaptation. These are some examples of the consequnces of climate change -

Advantages of Climate Change-

Improved agriculture in some high latitude regions (Mendelsohn 2006)

Increased growing season in Greenland (Nyegaard 2007)

Increased productivity of sour orange trees (Kimball 2007)

Winter deaths will decline as temperatures warm (HPA 2007)

An ice-free Northwest Passage, providing a shipping shortcut between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans (Kerr 2002, Stroeve 2008)

Disadvantages of Climate Change-

Decreasing human water supplies, increased fire frequency, ecosystem change and expanded deserts (Solomon 2009)

Encroachment of shrubs into grasslands, rendering rangeland unsuitable for domestic livestock grazing (Morgan 2007)

Increased deaths to heatwaves - 5.74% increase to heatwaves compared to 1.59% to cold snaps (Medina-Ramon 2007)

Loss of 2/3 of the world's polar bear population within 50 years (Amstrup 2007)

Of course it is threatened man-kind. when climate changes affect negatively water precipitation, salinity spread and agriculture, it will definitely affect man-kind.

Regardless of direct effect of temperature on human activities, climate changes will affect sea water levels resulting in more saline-affected soils, higher salinity in under ground water, less agricultural production and less food for human. in addition, floods, drought will affect inhibited areas and will cause direct damages. all of these effects are threatening man-kind.

Global mean temperature has risen by nearly 0.8 degree Celsius up to now from the pre-industrial era and two-third of that has happened in the last 30 years according to IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate change). This may be a cyclic process caused by natural phenomena or continuous process caused by human activities. The latter can be controlled, to some extent, by making genuine and effective effort by world organizations and the governments of individual countries. Controlling causes is more effective than mitigation of impacts.

Impacts of global warming on the areas such as amount and intensity of rainfall, floods, droughts, extinction of plant and animal species etc. are still in experimental level. Certain consultancy firms and funding agencies exaggerate the issue to promote projects to mitigate (expected) impacts of climate change. Continuous research in the field is very essential for proper understanding and finding effective solutions to the problem. Growth of population, Over utilization of natural resources, industrialization & emission of greenhouse gasses, urbanization & deforestation etc. have been identified as man-made causes for global warming. National Level research and country specific solutions are very important to identify causes and control impacts of climate change.