This diagram shows the effects of climate change - more specifically, what will happen as the earth reaches a global average temperature increase of X degrees celcius. It also shows the associated CO2 concentration in the atmosphere (Currently we are at a concentration of around 380 parts per million).
Let me draw your attention to a few changes I think are quite eye-opening and alarming.
1) With an average temperature increase of 2 degrees celcius it will bring about the "irreversible melting of the Greenland ice sheet".
2) "Entire regions experience major decline in crop yields" at an increase of just over 4 degrees celcius in the global average temperature.
3) "Increasing risk of abrupt, largescale shifts in the climate system (e.g. collapse of the Atlantic Thermohaline circulation and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet)" with an increase of 3 degrees celcius and more. The Atlantic Thermohaline circulation is a deep water ocean current that circulates throughout the entire world, and the purpose of it is that it transports cooler water from the poles to warmer waters and then the warmer water up towards the poles. It begins in the North Pole above the Atlantic Ocean and because of this circulation, Europe is approximately 8-10 degrees warmer than if this circulation did not exist. It is with the formation of ice in the arctic (which then creates very salty and dense water surface water - which is actually denser than the water below it - and so the surface water and deeper water change place) that this circulation begins, and so with less ice in the arctic, this circulation will become weaker and eventually stop.
If you've seen the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' this is the premise it lies on (however exaggerated the movie is).
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