Category: climate change

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People Break Down The Most Likely Reasons Humanity Will Go Extinct

We all know the story of the dinosaurs extinction. An asteroid hit the earth and caused great environmental impact that wiped out their world.

When we think about our world today and what could possibly cause the end of human life, there’s so many more possibilities beyond an asteroid.

Some scientists predict it could happen in 100 years due to the crumbling political and social climates, while others believe it will be climate related which places the end of days anywhere between 5,100 to 7.8 million years from now.

Redditor TwoTimeToj wanted to know:

“What is the most likely to cause humanity’s extinction?”

This question stirred up quite the debate.

Our own doing.

“Humanity.” ~ LopensLeftArm

“This reminds me of the time last year May 2020. When due to lockdown, a lot of pollution went away, and then everyone on the internet declared: ‘We, humans are the real virus.’” ~ tadxb

“It’s not worth arguing because that alone will bring us to the brink. its us fighting ourselves.” ~ Moglist

“I like to think that when the baby boomer generation currently in charge of companies and politics all die off, we’ll be in a better world because the millennials will take over who have more realistic views and understandings and actually seem to give a sh*t about the future, having had such a hard time for their own futures.”

“But at the same time I know it’s just a dream. ‘Man, I’ve had it so sh*t for so long but now I’m in charge and can screw everyone else over to live a really comfortable, extravagant life I always wanted? Why change the wheel when I can abuse it too and live on a beach driving fast cars?’”

“Aaaaaaand nothing’s changed. Big f*cking surprise.” ~ Dynasty2201

“‘We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world’s been turning.’ – Billy Joel” ~ Guardanapkins

Some think it’s not that easy.

“I think people really underestimate what it would take to actually completely exterminate our entire species. We already bounced back from a population collapse down to under 10,000 once, we could do so again.”

“Nuclear war, ecological collapse, incurable disease; I highly doubt that any of them could kill everyone. Even if it’s just a few isolated pockets in the outback or the jungle that survive, that’s still not extinction.”

“Honestly, I think it would take a cosmic catastrophe (asteroid/comet impact, gamma ray burst, etc) to completely obliterate us and that assumes that it occurs soon enough that we don’t have viable populations outside of Earth.”

“I’m not for a minute saying that ‘Everything will be fine.’ If we nuke ourselves back to the stone age, or completely alter the planet’s climate such that agriculture becomes impossible, then of course human civilization would probably never recover.”

“The questions is explicitly outright extinction, which I think is big step further.” ~ GalacticNexus

“What’s the event that brought us down to 10,000 if I may ask?” ~ madmenrus1

“I believe it was a supervolcano eruption which initiated a mini ice age, correct me if I’m wrong.” ~ elik2226

A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

“A bad-tempered, bureaucratic alien species of space engineers deciding to construct a hyperspace bypass through our solar system.” ~ -o0_0o-

“I mean, the plans have been on display in Alpha Centauri for quite some time.” ~ itsf*ckingpizzatime

“On display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’” ~ PeterLemonjellow

Genetic modification.

“I’ve always thought that humans will begin modifying DNA and making cyborg-like modifications to the human body until we reach the point that the concept of human will be so diluted that we will have to call ourselves another way, leading to the extinction of humanity as we know it.” ~ -exekiel-

“You should read the book Homo Deus basically the same idea.” ~ ZeusFarous

“The Omnissiah would be proud.” ~ ctank01

Climate change.

“Climate change, pandemics, etc will probably just make a dent of a smaller or bigger size. For an extinction level event, there’s fewer options:”

  • “Asteroid impact.”
  • “Global thermonuclear war.”
  • “Gamma ray burst.”

“…that kind of thing.” ~ arkaydee

“How about solar flares? What if there comes a solar flare that fries all electronics?”

“Suddenly, we’d have no transportation, no food because it relies on transportation, no running water, no pacemakers, etc.?” ~ 101st_kilometre

“We won’t go extinct, it will just collapse society.” ~ Elbonio

“Back to stone age.”

“Exciting.” ~ Entry-

“It won’t be the stone age. There is a lot of accumulated knowledge that would allow us to be way better off than any time prior to the 1800’s.”

“Just the idea of washing your hands before a medical procedure was revolutionary and not recognized by doctors until after the mid 1800’s.” ~ Alatain

“Can’t wait to get back to the good old days, when you cut your lawn using a giant lobster, and your shower was an elephant that complained a lot!” ~ TheAllyCrime

“If tech suddenly went awry there would still be plenty of people able to live in local farms. It would destroy our civilization but people would survive.”

“The only thing that would truly send humans extinct is the earth becoming entirely uninhabitable for us and the food we eat, like an asteroid boiling our oceans or something like that.” ~ tredli

Probably something so ridiculous.

“Probably the dumbest f*cking thing you can imagine.” ~ jks_david

“Like yogurt or giving cats opposable thumbs in love death and robots.” ~ fox_office

“The yogurt will leave us behind.” ~ uncalledforgiraffe

“At least we will be cultured.” ~ AdAny287

A rogue planet.

“Astronomical phenomenon like a rogue planet, or an asteroid.” ~ Tink2013

“I’m apparently fuzzy on the definition of a rogue planet. I believed they were simply planets that formed outside of or somehow escaped a star system.”

“Simply a planet without a star. How might that bring about humanities extinction? Through a collision?” ~ QiKS

“If one came close enough to disrupt our orbit around the sun and kick us out of the ‘goldilocks’ zone, we could die by heat or cold.” ~ spauldhaliwal

Ancient bacteria.

“Polar ice cap melts, releases bacteria from 5 million years ago and it’s p*ssed.” ~ tuscabam

“There’s a really good book about this. The trick is that it kills the livestock as well, transmitted by insects.” ~ KarmaEeleon

One just to lighten the mood.

“A.I. And by ‘A.I.’ I mean Auto Insurance.” ~ 6_String_Slinger

“Flo takes her job seriously. If you’re not on the plan, plan to die.” ~ yankstraveler

Whether it’s climate change or nuclear war, the end of humanity may come one day.

Hopefully, none of us will be around to see it.

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The Pacific Ocean Is Getting Colder as Parts of the Earth Heat Up

We used to talk all the time about Global Warming. Then over the last few decades, the concept got rebranded as Climate Change, and with good reason.

Warming in and of itself is not necessarily concerning. It’s the dramatic fluctuations in normal weather patterns, which we experience with greater and greater frequency and severity, in addition to the overall temperature increase, that is really sounding the alarm. In fact it turns out that as some parts of the Earth are getting warmer, other parts are losing heat.

To understand this new discovery, published in Geophysical Research Letters by researchers from the University of Oslo, it may be helpful to reflect back on 3rd grade science class.

Remember how the Earth is made up of layers, with a molten magma core surrounded by the mantle?

The mantle and the core are the notable layers in this new research because it’s not just the sun that heats the surface of our planet.

It turns out, the core heats us from the inside, as well, like how a hot bowl of soup can warm you all over on a cold day.

As Popular Mechanics explains:

Over the extremely long term, this interior will continue to cool until Earth is more like Mars. The surprise in the new study is how unevenly the heat is dissipating, but the reason makes intuitive sense: Parts of Earth have been insulated by more landmass, creating something of a Thermos layer that traps heat.

To understand how it is possible for one side of the Earth to be cooling faster than the other, it helps to picture an AuthaGraph map of the world.

This more accurate representation demonstrates the unequal distribution of land and water across the Earth.

For their study, the Oslo scientists divided the Earth into an African hemisphere (mostly land) and a Pacific hemisphere (mostly water).

Then they used computers to model and analyze 400 million years of continental drift and temperature data, to understand the relative insulation of each hemisphere across time.

Just like bubbles seem to keep you and your bath water warmer for longer, land insulates better than water alone.

The seafloor is far thinner than the bulky landmass, and temperature from within Earth is “quenched” by the enormous volume of cold water that’s above it.

When you think about it that way, it all kind of makes sense.

Earth, as seen from Apollo 17

Image credit: NASA via Unsplash

And yet, they found a bit of a contradiction.

The research shows that the Pacific hemisphere has cooled around 50 Kelvin more than the African hemisphere.
(If my math is right, that’s something like a drop of 550 degrees Fahrenheit, but please don’t quote me.)

Due to continental drift, or the Lost City of Atlantis, or who-knows-what, it looks like the Pacific side of the world was not always the cooler of the two.

Think about the Ring of Fire, the higher volcanic activity in and around the Pacific Ocean.

Lava from Kilauea on Hawaii flows into the ocean.

Image credit: Marc Szeglat via Unsplash

Popular Mechanics points out:

The Pacific’s high tectonic activity today points to a heat disparity.

The meltier the mantle, the more the plates can slide and slam together.

Maybe that’s where everything is connected and Climate Change really comes into play.

As sea levels rise, adding more water to the mix, and the ice shelf breaks off, adding more cold ice into the water, maybe that is helping the ocean cool down even faster.

That’s the fun thing about science–there’s always more to figure out.

It’s pretty fascinating though, right? Tell us what you think in the comments.

The post The Pacific Ocean Is Getting Colder as Parts of the Earth Heat Up appeared first on UberFacts.

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These Border Collies Replant a Burned Chilean Forest

Herding dogs are smart and high energy.

When we first met ours at a rescue shelter, she was so excited she raced around the yard in circles like a cartoon Tasmanian devil.

That combination of energy and intelligence makes Border Collies the perfect breed for a very special and unexpected environmental task.

Meet Das, Olivia, and Summer:

They live in Chile, where in 2017, fores fires decimated the landscape.

TreeHugger.com described the fires in El Maule in stark terms:

The worst wildfire season in Chile’s history ravaged more than 1.4 million acres early in 2017, destroying nearly 1,500 homes and killing at least 11 people. More than a dozen countries sent fire-fighting specialists to help battle the dozens of destructive blazes.

According to Green Matters, the damage was estimated at $333 million, but the loss of trees and their impact on the environment as a whole is likely immeasurable.

It will take decades to regrow the forest land–but first, new trees must be planted.

Enter sisters Francisca and Constanza Torres and their three Border Collies:

Together, they train the dogs to race across the forest floor wearing backpacks full of native seeds, which they purchase with their own money.

As the sheepdogs run, the seeds spill from holes in their special doggy bags, and spread out where they can begin to take root and regrow the once-lush environment.

It may seem like work to humans, but for the dogs, it’s just a raucous good time.

In an email exchange with Mother Nature Network, Francisca explained:

“They reeeeeally love [it]!! It’s a country trip, where they can run as fast as they can and have a great time.”

And when their bags are empty, the dogs return to their owners for treats and cuddles, and a refill on the seeds.

It’s quite the sight, to see the dogs bounding through the scrub.

And it’s a good thing they have so much energy. According to Green Matters:

This system is also more efficient than having people spread the seeds manually. These speedy canines can race through a forest and cover up to 18 miles a day. Humans, on the other hand, can only cover a few miles each day. These pups can scatter over 20 pounds of seeds, depending on the terrain.

Johnny Appleseed, watch out!

They may not be able to cover the entire forest, but the work these very good girls are doing is already paying off.

The BBC even did a story about them:

It seriously blows my mind to think that two women and their gorgeous pups are changing the world all by themselves and in such a big way.

This Earth Day it makes me wonder, what more could I be doing? What about you? Did your heart just grow three sizes like mine did? Let us know in the comments.

The post These Border Collies Replant a Burned Chilean Forest appeared first on UberFacts.

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Could Planting 1 Trillion Trees Help To Save Us From Climate Change?

Most of us are looking for ways to combat climate change, since the science is irrefutable – we’re running out of time. If we want to have a viable earth to pass down to our kids and grandkids, time is of the essence.

What’s the answer, though? That’s a little harder, but even if planting trees couldn’t hurt anything, could planting a whole lot of trees actually save us?

The answer is… scientists think so.

In a recent report, the U.N. suggested that adding 2.5 billion acres of forest to the world could limit global warming by 2050.

What’s more? Data backs up their claims.

Image Credit: Pexels

A group of researchers out of Switzerland found that restoring around 223 million acres of canopy cover (that’s an area roughly the size of the contiguous United States) is “our most effective climate change solution to date.”

That number of trees could store about 205 billion tons of carbon – 2/3 of the carbon that has been emitted since the Industrial Revolution.

Jean-François Bastin, from the Switzerland study, lays out what that really means.

“The idea was to estimate what tree cover could be expected when you removed the ‘human factor,’ i.e. what specific types of forest would naturally occur in the absence of other development, and where.”

They built a “model to link tree cover with climate/soil/topography, based on 78,000 observations of tree cover in protected areas.”

Image Credit: Pexels

They used some more fancy math to exclude land currently being used for urban settlements, croplands, and existing forests, which left them the total amount of land available for restoration.

These studies align with global efforts like the Trillion Trees Vision, which wants to plant those trillion trees by 2050, and the Bonn Challenge, a partnership between Germany and the U.N. that wants to restore 371 million acres of deforested land by the end of this year.

If you’re thinking this sounds easy, and we should just do it like, yesterday, but things are always more complicated than they seem.

Mostly, the fact that only a few countries are willing to chip in, says Jim Hallett, chair of the Society for Ecological Restoration’s board of directors.

“Implementation of forest restoration on the scale discussed in this paper is not as straightforward as it might seem.

By 2018, there were commitments of over 420 million acres (170 million hectares) by 58 nations, which exceeds the Bonn Challenge goal.

Current estimates indicate that around 29 percent of the committed lands are now under restoration, but most of this work has been done by a few countries.”

Other major challenges, according to Hallett, include “financing, governance, land tenure and ownership, [and] capacity to do the work. There is ample evidence that, in some contexts, if the benefits of restoration are not equally shared, the project will fail. So incentive programs have to be carefully developed.”

Image Credit: Pexels

Experts also warn that planting trees alone is not enough, even if we plant a billion of them. The models depend on us not further degrading the forested lands we currently have, too.

Not only that, but there are other scientists, like climate change researcher Eike Luedeling, who are skeptical for other reasons.

“Many of the allegedly available restoration areas are clearly unsuitable for more trees than they currently support.

If you look closely at the map, a large proportion of these areas are in regions where soils are permanently frozen.

The methodology implicitly (probably not on purpose) implies that carbon stock is proportional to canopy cover, i.e. ecosystems without trees contain no carbon.

This is clearly false and strongly inflates the global estimate [of restoration].”

Basically, for some, these studies and proposals are nothing more than interesting academic proposals that will never be able to be implemented in the real world.

The U.N. and Hallett, recognize that nothing they’ve proposed will be simple, but it could be a viable course of action if the kinks could be worked out.

Image Credit: Pexels

“What we need is universal action: international agencies, NGOs, governments, all citizens — anyone can be involved.

Local communities and small organizations may be especially effective.

While they do not have the same reach as national agencies, they have the benefit of knowing what works best in their own backyards.”

It seems like this could be a great solution, or at least the start to one.

I mean, who doesn’t love trees, right; they’re the best!

The post Could Planting 1 Trillion Trees Help To Save Us From Climate Change? appeared first on UberFacts.

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Patagonia’s CEO Donated Company’s $10 Million Tax Cut to Fight Climate Change

As much as some people (and organizations) out there would like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend climate change doesn’t exist, it is very real, and its effects are growing more drastic.

Because of the 2018 rewrite of America’s tax laws – a tax code revision that greatly benefited corporations by lowering the corporate tax rate by almost a third for most companies – Patagonia paid $10 million less in taxes that year than it had anticipated. So the company’s CEO, Rose Marcario, decided to donate the $10 million to non-profit groups that are working to fight climate change and help the environment.

Marcario believed the corporate tax cut was not a good thing, and she wrote, “Based on last year’s irresponsible tax cut, Patagonia will owe less in taxes this year—$10 million less, in fact. Instead of putting the money back into our business, we’re responding by putting $10 million back into the planet. Our home planet needs it more than we do.”

Speaking about climate change deniers, including many in government, Marcario wrote, “Far too many have suffered the consequences of global warming in recent months, and the political response has so far been woefully inadequate—and the denial is just evil.”

Patagonia has been a friend of the environment for many years now and their website says the company has donated more than $89 million to environmental groups to fight climate change.

Let’s hope that more corporations and individuals make their voices heard about the extreme consequences of climate change that are occurring around us every day. This isn’t something that might happen in the future, this is taking place right now.

The post Patagonia’s CEO Donated Company’s $10 Million Tax Cut to Fight Climate Change appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Melting Glacier Revealed 28 New Virus Groups and Scientists are Worried

There are a whole lot of reasons to lament the demise of glaciers around the world – for one, they are the visual proof that the earth is warming, no matter what the weather outside your window or the politicians in their offices want to claim.

For another, many of them have been around for millennia, and as they melt, things are thawing out of them that modern human beings have never encountered.

In 2015, researchers from China and the United States drilled a 164-foot hole into a Tibetan glacier, gathering 2 ice core samples to study in a lab. The 15,000-year-old glacier is melting, and the scientists have so far found 33 virus groups in their core sample.

28 of them are completely new to science.

These scientists and researchers are not alone; their peers around the world are desperately trying to identify potential microbial threats in the melting ice before they escape and put us on the spot.

Image Credit: Pixabay

The meltwater from glaciers and ice caps could release these potentially harmful pathogens into streams, rivers, and pretty much any other type of waterway…and once a previously unknown microbe finds its way into human beings, there’s no telling what might happen.

The permafrost around the world is melting, too, and presents similar microbial challenges. It’s also releasing an alarming amount of methane gas and carbon dioxide – it is estimated to hold twice as much carbon as currently resides in our atmosphere.

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For 141 years since its first ascent, mountaineers from around the world traveled to climb la Meije in the Massif des Ecrins of France. Meanwhile, the permafrost that held its stones together was melting. On August 7, 2018, rockfall destroyed much of the normal route. In this On Belay story from Alpinist 68—which is now available on newsstands and in our online store—two locally based guides—Benjamin Ribeyre and Erin Smart—recount a search for a new way up the peak amid the uncertainties of the planet’s future. . You can now read the story at Alpinist.com. . Did you know—only a small fraction of our many long-form stories from the print edition are ever uploaded to Alpinist.com. Be sure to pick up Alpinist 68 for all the goodness: https://shop.holpublications.com/products/alpinist-magazine-issue-68 . The south face of la Meije (3983m) and the upper Etancons Valley is pictured here with the Glacier Carre covered in snow during spring, Massif des Ecrins, France. [Photo] Manu Rivaud . @benjaminribeyre @erinsmart_mountainguide #lameije #glaciercarré #frenchalps #snowmelt #rockfall #climatechange #meltingpermafrost #alpinistfeature #theclimbinglife #alpineclimbing #mountaineering

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Researchers have pulled samples of smallpox, Spanish flu, bubonic plague, and even anthrax from thawing permafrost, along with pollutants like mercury, all previously trapped inside permanently frozen ground.

There are important buildings in jeopardy, too, as thawing ground begins to result in more slumping or sagging of previously hardened earth. In Sweden, for example, there is a nuclear waste containment facility that could be in danger, and in Norway, the world’s global seed vault, built to safeguard seeds against exactly this kind of environmental impact, could itself be threatened.

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Humans are very good at self sabotaging ourselves, controlling and manipulating others, colonizing and dominating over other live and sentient beings. All these behaviours are driven by fear, anger, greed, hunger for power, status and control. ?? Would we still buy into all this nonsense if we fully realized that we are destroying ourselves, all living beings and our planet? What if we only have few years to live? Would we contemplate life and death? Seek reconciliations between peoples with different religions, nations, genders, classes, generations? ❤ Let's make universal love our compass. ❤ Let's live in present. ❤ Let's seek and adapt inner peace and love. ❤ Let's be human again. ❤ Let's share love and show compassion. ❤ Love, enjoy, live. Now. #love #behuman #awakeninghumanity #humanrights #climatecrisis #sixthmassextinction #climaterefugees #consumerismkills #foodshortages #heatwave #flooding #reducereuserecycle #circulareconomy #govegan #carbondrawdown #risingsealevel #meltingpermafrost #plasticfreelife #socialcollaps #noplanetb? #universalconsciousness

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Basically, we’ve only encountered the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) when it comes to the potential disastrous effects of global warming – not only on the planet, but on humanity, too.

I don’t know about you, but the idea that I could get smallpox is one more reason I want to do my part.

The post A Melting Glacier Revealed 28 New Virus Groups and Scientists are Worried appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Village in Russia Is Facing a Sudden Onslaught of Polar Bears

As the earth continues to get warmer, polar bear populations are sadly declining. Strangely enough, though, one village in Russia is actually being overrun by polar bears.

Almost 60 polar bears were spotted looking for food near the village of Ryrkaypiy in far east Russia, CNN reports. The bears, most of them looking starved, are feeding on walrus carcasses on the village’s shores. Males, females, and cubs have all been spotted.

This is a marked increase from previous years, when it was rare to spot more than three to five polar bears at a time. Experts attribute the sudden increase to climate change – as warmer temperatures melt the sea ice, more bears are forced to remain on land rather than at sea, their preferred habitat.

“If the ice was strong enough, the bears, or at least some of them, would have already gone to sea, where they could hunt for seals or sea hares,” Mikhail Stishov, coordinator of WWF-Russia projects for the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, told CNN. “Similar situations are becoming the norm. We need to adapt to this so that neither people nor bears suffer.”

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Thankfully, no incidents have been reported between bears and humans. Still, Ryrkaypiy’s 500 residents are understandably stressed. What will happen if the bears run out of walrus carcasses to eat? They might venture even closer to people’s homes.

“The psychological situation in (Ryrkaypiy) is complicated, women worry, because their children walk to school,” said Anatoly Kochnev, a scientist at Russia’s Institute of Biological Problems of the North.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Volunteers on “bear patrol” are now on lookout at the town limits. School buses have also begun picking up children so they don’t have to walk to school.

This is climate change in action, folks.

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A New UN Report Foretells of a Cataclysmic Climate Change Scenario

Countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 so they could find ways to protect the environment. Today, scientists have realized that the climate is changing faster than they first thought.

This year’s UN Report says that greenhouse gas emissions must decrease by 7.5% every year going forward to reduce the probability of warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius. A decrease of 2.7% annually would make sure the planet’s temperature doesn’t rise by 2 degrees Celsius.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Scientists warn that even subtle temperature increases could have massive effects – and have already. These could and do include coral reef die-offs, increased severe weather events, and economic problems associated with these changes.

Climate is already causing economic issues. Scientists also say that changes could have been made more gradually if world economies had responded to climate change sooner.

G20 countries—those that make up the world’s 20 largest economies—are responsible for 78% of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, many of these countries pledged that they would stop subsidies to their national fossil fuel industry, but they didn’t commit to a deadline.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Many countries are also far from meeting the commitments they pledged back then. Only five G-20 countries so far are on their way to reducing their carbon emissions rates to net zero.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Thankfully the report contains recommendations for changes countries can make so they can live up to their commitments and prevent drastic changes. The executive director of the UN’s Environment Program, Inger Andersen, says,

“This report gives us a stark choice: set in motion the radical transformations we need now, or face the consequences of a planet radically altered by climate change. We cannot afford to fail.”

Things sound grim, but at least there are things we can do to prevent extreme weather changes. What do you think of this news? Share your ideas below.

The post A New UN Report Foretells of a Cataclysmic Climate Change Scenario appeared first on UberFacts.

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Venice, Italy Is Underwater After the Highest Tide in 50 Years

If you’ve paid attention to the news the last week or so, you’ve seen the heartbreaking and devastating floods in one of Europe’s most-visited cities. Venice, Italy is a breathtaking destination, famous for its canals and historic buildings.

Recently, the highest tide in 50 years has inundated the city, and the mayor of Venice has blamed the catastrophe on one thing: climate change.

Paquebots(Navires spécialisé dans le transport de personnes.)L' année dernière, des conditions similaires ont frappé…

Posted by Olivier Godfurnon on Thursday, November 14, 2019

More than 85% of Venice flooded during this event, and the famous St. Mark’s Basilica was flooded for only the sixth time in 1,200 years. Four of those six floods have been in the past 20 years. Official records about such events in Venice have only been kept since 1923, and these high tides (called acqua alta in Italian) reached the highest levels in the city since 1966.

Posted by Sonny Tuttle on Monday, November 18, 2019

Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region of which Venice is a part of, said, “We are faced with total, apocalyptic devastation. The art, the basilica, the shops and the homes, a disaster…Venice is bracing itself for the next high tide.” Zaia also described Venice as being “on its knees.”

Posted by Władimir Gromakowski on Sunday, November 17, 2019

The images coming out of Venice are shocking and sad, to say the least. People and animals trudging through the high waters, attempting to find higher ground and to save their personal belongings.

Posted by Sonny Tuttle on Monday, November 18, 2019

Posted by Sonny Tuttle on Monday, November 18, 2019

Venice is built on top of a marshy, shallow lagoon, which doesn’t help the situation. Sea levels have been rising around Venice (and everywhere) for years because of climate change, but the city is also sinking, increasing the impact.

Unless drastic action is taken, the problem looks like it will only get worse as time marches on until the city disappears into the ocean. Or something.

The post Venice, Italy Is Underwater After the Highest Tide in 50 Years appeared first on UberFacts.

Posted on

Venice, Italy Is Underwater After the Highest Tide in 50 Years

If you’ve paid attention to the news the last week or so, you’ve seen the heartbreaking and devastating floods in one of Europe’s most-visited cities. Venice, Italy is a breathtaking destination, famous for its canals and historic buildings.

Recently, the highest tide in 50 years has inundated the city, and the mayor of Venice has blamed the catastrophe on one thing: climate change.

Paquebots(Navires spécialisé dans le transport de personnes.)L' année dernière, des conditions similaires ont frappé…

Posted by Olivier Godfurnon on Thursday, November 14, 2019

More than 85% of Venice flooded during this event, and the famous St. Mark’s Basilica was flooded for only the sixth time in 1,200 years. Four of those six floods have been in the past 20 years. Official records about such events in Venice have only been kept since 1923, and these high tides (called acqua alta in Italian) reached the highest levels in the city since 1966.

Posted by Sonny Tuttle on Monday, November 18, 2019

Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region of which Venice is a part of, said, “We are faced with total, apocalyptic devastation. The art, the basilica, the shops and the homes, a disaster…Venice is bracing itself for the next high tide.” Zaia also described Venice as being “on its knees.”

Posted by Władimir Gromakowski on Sunday, November 17, 2019

The images coming out of Venice are shocking and sad, to say the least. People and animals trudging through the high waters, attempting to find higher ground and to save their personal belongings.

Posted by Sonny Tuttle on Monday, November 18, 2019

Posted by Sonny Tuttle on Monday, November 18, 2019

Venice is built on top of a marshy, shallow lagoon, which doesn’t help the situation. Sea levels have been rising around Venice (and everywhere) for years because of climate change, but the city is also sinking, increasing the impact.

Unless drastic action is taken, the problem looks like it will only get worse as time marches on until the city disappears into the ocean. Or something.

The post Venice, Italy Is Underwater After the Highest Tide in 50 Years appeared first on UberFacts.