Things appear to be finally progressing in terms of the recognition of climate change. I think this is due to the noticeable differences in temperature, as was pointed out in class, it’s sunny and sixty degrees in the middle of February. I myself was quite surprised at the speed symptoms of climate change are beginning to appear. Flowers are already beginning to bloom, it seems like it didn’t rain nearly half as much as it usually does for Oregon during the winter. Another alarming revelation to appear in the news was a prediction by climate scientists of future “mega-droughts” manifesting in the United States around the year 2050. These mega-droughts would specifically hit the southwest and great plains regions. A typical drought lasts around 7-10 years. One of the most famous droughts that occurred in the United States was the “Great Dust Bowl” which lasted around a decade. The “Great Dust Bowl” caused widespread crop failure and initiated mass migration to cities due to the lack of farming jobs. A mega-drought would hold similar conditions to a normal drought, but could last as long as 35 years.
The reasons these mega-droughts could occur in the near future would be due to the excess evaporation of water vapor from the soil due to changes in temperature and precipitation from climate change in the future. The south-west is currently going through a drought right now, but there is a 12% risk with current carbon composition of the atmosphere that a mega-drought could occur somewhere in the near future. If the atmospheric composition of carbon continues to rise at its current rate, which predicted to hit 1370 parts per million by 2100, the risk of mega-drought could rise to as high as 80%. Even if great efforts were made to curb carbon output, the risk of mega-drought is still expected to be nearly 60% in the future.
With all these risks, one would think that people would be immediately motivated to take action, especially in the regions where these climactic events would occur, yet it seems other issue continue to take the forefront on the news. Even though it finally seems like most people generally now accept that Climate Change is both real and directly correlated with the release of fossil fuels in the atmosphere, it seems to be continually downplayed, with more focus being put on adapting to the changing conditions instead of actively changing them. The future of the planet seems very obscure. No matter what is done now, things have been permanently altered by carbon emissions. With all the disaster related fiction we’ve been reading in class, I am very curious as how humanity will adapt in the future to the new conditions. I hope that no group or class of society will be damaged or discriminated against in adapting, but judging by human nature, I know that this is simply not the case. Dramatic action must be taken to address these climatological threats, otherwise the disaster fiction we read about could become reality.
You make a great point about how news pertaining to climate change is downplayed! It’s very scary to think that there is such a big chance for another enormous drought in the future. I am from California and we are currently facing a drought but I never imagined that the world could experience such another drastic drought. Temperatures around the world are fluctuating and hopefully people are starting to realize that it isn’t just irregular weather patterns but due to climate change.
Your statement, “it finally seems like most people generally now accept that Climate Change is both real and directly correlated with the release of fossil fuels in the atmosphere, it seems to be continually downplayed, with more focus being put on adapting to the changing conditions instead of actively changing them,” is spot on! People are starting to understand and acknowledge that Global Warming is happening, but aren’t necessarily making the changes that need to happen. Yes, we are producing electric cars, or self-sustaining buildings; however, what about eliminating the amount of fossil fuel emissions we release into the atmosphere, or using less water that we should be saving incase of a drought, like you said. Before we can adapt to the future consequences of Global Warming, we need to adapt to the present.