The Gulf Stream is part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation! and plays a major role, not only in the role of ocean currents in the Atlantic, but also the location and strength of the jet streams. Why the Atlantic? Basically the melt of ice from Greenland, which is estimated to have risen by an annual 250bn tonne loss in the past decade, is disrupting the normal cycle and raising sea levels.
So let us do a fact check before the discussion gets underway later in the year. There is surely no longer a conversation to be had that global temperatures ate rising and that that correlates with greenhouse gas emissions. The discussions will be related to the speed of reaction to these statistics. That is the economists will be arguing that we have more time than the scientists are suggesting. A familiar argument? (60000 extra deaths in the UK due to this is the UK?
In the short term I think we can safely predict more extreme weather events. And whilst the human cost of these can often be mitigated, the impact on the natural world is more harmful. We are already seeing/living in an event which maybe termed one of the great extinctions since life on earth began.
Longer term will see the growth of areas suffering from sea level rise, erosion and flooding. Some Pacific Islands will become uninhabitable. Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru are amongst the most vulnerable (and have little opportunity to migrate.
The biggest impact could be on farming, but here I see the TNC’s investing their billions in GM food stuffs and alternatives to ensure food supply. However this will probably result in a greater negative impact on wildlife with greater use of insecticides and herbicides.
The greatest problem which is unlikely to be confronted by politicians is population growth. We are already seeing some ethnic groups in various countries refusing vaccines (pre-covid) in case there was a chance that they were being sterilised. And population growth and climate change are all tied up with development issues; none of which has an impact on ‘Pete and Tracey’s ability to go to the pub or have a holiday on a Greek Island.
Populism might win elections – but it definitely costs lives (Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Bolsonaro) – and Xi Jinping omited from this group as he is a dictator of sorts, but not populist! And populism will continue to be an influence. Growth of electric cars has grown but pollution levels are only marginally down due to grow in SUV’s.