eli5: Why melting glaciers are existential problem to humanity? or are they?
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Existential, in the sense that when shit starts to break down, we have a tendency to act crazy, and we have the capacity to wipe ourselves out. Other than that, it’s just going to cause lots of suffering and death.
1.) Most people (like, 6/10 people) live in or near cities, and most of the most populated cities are near the coast. Lots of people will be displaced if their houses go underwater. Where will they go? Do you think the people in the areas they go to will be happy at having to compete with all these newcomers for jobs and resources? No. Humans have wholesale murdered entire populations of each other for less.
2.) A lot of greenhouse gasses are trapped in the ice. If the arctic ice melts, those gasses will all be released all at once. CO2 makes the earth warmer, but gasses like methane make the earth warmer faster. Most of the gasses trapped in the ice are like methane. So when they start getting released, the global average temperature will skyrocket, making the ice melt faster and giving us less time to adapt.
3.) The strength of a storm is determined by the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, and the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere in areas around the ocean is determined by the temperature of the water. Warmer atmosphere = warmer water = more water vapor in the tropics = stronger storms).
4.) If the ice melts, the salinity (amount of salt in the ocean) changes, because most arctic ice is fresh water ice (adding fresh water without changing the amount of salt makes water less salty), and the temperature of the water starts to even out more. This is very bad because cold water sinks and flows to warm areas and warm water rises and flows to cold areas. Warm water in a colder area can actually warm the air up (like when you shower with super hot water and the bathroom gets warmer). This means, paradoxically, northern areas will have much, much colder winters (Siberian winters in England), and southern areas will have much, much hotter climates (this will kill lots of people, plants, and animals that live in the equator, as they quit being able to cope with the heat and humidity).
5.) It’s hard to predict how this will impact the climate because weather is super complex, but in general, expect more droughts and floods in food producing regions. Meaning less food, more competition for food, higher food prices, etc. Wars will be fought over food and water, and these wars will (paradoxically) make the situation worse, because food and water can’t be grown in battlefield trenches. Global food production also relies in global trade of things like farming machinery and fertilizer, and with all the wars and power struggles caused by this new instability, global trade will probably break down.
6.) Coral reefs will die in water that’s too warm. Many of the fish we eat live in reefs or spend part of their life cycles in reefs.
7.) Many water animals lower on the food chain can’t survive in warmer waters. If they die off, the animals that eat them die off, and so on and so forth up the ocean food chain. And less fish means less fish dinners for us. Not a problem if you don’t eat fish, but many countries rely on fish as a vital source of food. And when they can’t buy fish, they’ll start buying other stuff (which will be limited in supply), and if the quantity of that other stuff can’t be increased, that means even higher prices.
8.) Now, with all of this in mind, more wars, in an age where countries have the power to use nukes to wipe out all life on Earth, isn’t necessarily a good thing.
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