The world in 2100 will be hotter, with more extreme weather and more natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. How much hotter? It is impossible to know right now, as it will depend on our actions during the next 80 years. There are different scenarios, from the world being 1.5ºC to 5ºC hotter by 2100.
Heatwaves will be more frequent and long-lasting, causing droughts, global food shortages, migration, and increased spread of infectious diseases. Moreover, as the polar ice will melt, sea levels will rise substantially, affecting a large number of coastline cities and as many as 275 million of their inhabitants.
Though the climate of Earth will be habitable in 2100, we will be experiencing new extremes. Each decade will be different from the previous and next decade. The climate future could be quite bleak.
2100: Either uninhabitable or beginning to repair
Over the coming two decades, extreme weather is set to disrupt society with increasingly severe bushfires, drought and storms. The good news is by the end of the century, living on Earth could actually be more pleasant than it is today.
Global temperature is projected to warm by about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7° degrees Fahrenheit) by 2050 and 2-4 degrees Celsius (3.6-7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100.
But how long can humans last? Eventually humans will go extinct. At the most wildly optimistic estimate, our species will last perhaps another billion years but end when the expanding envelope of the sun swells outward and heats the planet to a Venus-like state. But a billion years is a long time.
Just as our planet existed for more than 4 billion years before humans appeared, it will last for another 4 billion to 5 billion years, long after it becomes uninhabitable for humans. Shichun Huang is an associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee.
The mobile-friendly MyClimate 2050 tool shows almost all areas across Australia will experience longer and hotter summers, with temperatures increasing by an average of 2.32°C.
They argue that, at the end of this century, India will have the world's largest economy, followed by China and Nigeria. Asia and Africa will dominate regional markets. The leading players of the late 20th century - North America, Europe, and Japan – will have quite minor roles by the end of the 21st century.
The report stated there was “very high confidence” that temperatures would rise across Australia throughout the century, with the average annual temperature set to be up to 1.3C warmer in 2030 compared with the average experienced between 1986 and 2005.
A new book examining the forces shaping the future of global migration forecasts Michigan as the best place in the world to live in 2050. How can the world collaborate to minimize temperature rise to save as many lives as possible?
A paper published by the Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom has identified five countries in geographical locations with “favourable starting conditions” that may allow them to be less touched by the effects of climate change: New Zealand, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland.
Unless CO2 emissions drop significantly, global warming by 2500 will make the Amazon barren, the American Midwest tropical, and India too hot to live in, according to a team of international scientists.
Humans in the year 3000 will have a larger skull but, at the same time, a very small brain. "It's possible that we will develop thicker skulls, but if a scientific theory is to be believed, technology can also change the size of our brains," they write.
By 2100, the projected warming is between 1.2°C and 4.1°C, similar to the range projected by AOGCMs. A large constant composition temperature and sea level commitment is evident in the simulations and is slowly realised over coming centuries. By the year 3000, the warming range is 1.9°C to 5.6°C.
Based on known risks, the really cataclysmic ones, those that might exterminate us as a species, are fairly rare. Based on what we know today, it would be very unlikely that we wouldn't be around in the year 3000. There certainly would be bad times, but some of us would get through it. That leaves unknown risks.
As a result, six of the seven largest economies in the world are projected to be emerging economies in 2050 led by China (1st), India (2nd) and Indonesia (4th) The US could be down to third place in the global GDP rankings while the EU27's share of world GDP could fall below 10% by 2050.
By 2025, the United States would still be the most powerful country of the world, but it would have a little over 18% of the global power. The US would be closely followed by China (nearly 16%), European Union (14%) and India (10%).
Three major economic centres are set to become uninhabitable by the end of the century, with global temperatures on track to warm by 2.7C. Darwin, Broome and Port Hedland are predicted to be pushed outside the “human climate niche” — that is, the temperature and humidity conditions in which humans can survive.
Seasons Change
Instead of winter, the researchers believe Australians will experience spring, autumn, and a longer season they're calling "new summer." During this new season, temperatures will consistently peak above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for sustained periods of time, based on predictions.
While many people have already moved to Tasmania to escape the heat in other states, some doomsday preppers are weighing up the island state as a post-apocalyptic option. Tasmania scored highly in the report in terms of its climate, electricity supply, agricultural resources and population density.
Climate change is definitely at the top of practically every list of the most important issues facing our planet today. While this issue primarily focuses on global warming, changes in precipitation, air quality, biodiversity, “habitable” zones and many other areas are part of and affected by climate change.
Will humans survive? Yes, almost certainly, but the factors that determine the outcome are so immensely complex that our blunt and instrumental efforts are almost meaningless. The only thing that makes a difference is the combined impact of all individual animals including humans.
In the next 1,000 years, the amount of languages spoken on the planet are set to seriously diminish, and all that extra heat and UV radiation could see darker skin become an evolutionary advantage. And we're all set to get a whole lot taller and thinner, if we want to survive, that is.