Impact to Humans of Climate Change

As global climate change takes its toll on a sophisticated, high-technology dependant infrastructure, humankind will suffer along with the rest of plant & animal life on the planet.

FRAGILE INFRASTRUCTURE. A few winters ago, an ice storm brought down electrical feeder lines across much of Northern New England and Southern Canada as far East as Maine. It was weeks before some outlying regions regained power, without relief from freezing Winter temperatures. In fact, the US Navy brought power to a coastal town in Maine via a shipboard generator when electrical power could not be restored for weeks.

The fragile infrastructure of the Developed World, built after the "Little Ice Age" abated in the late 1800's, will be a prime target for extreme weather conditions. Since most dwellings no longer have a wood burning stove for cooking and heating, food production has been centralized and electrical power runs the majority of thermostats, modern life will be severely impacted by severe climate change disruptions.

Flooding along coastal areas and unusually strong hurricanes are bringing devastation to low lying countries.

Extended droughts in already dry areas is causing crop failures, human displacement & migrations, starvation, political uheavals, wars and economic disruption.

Around the globe, populations that depend on glacial meltwater & snowpack runoff will face lessened water supplies and extended seasons of heat, reducing the flow of rivers further.

Extensive rains in areas that once enjoyed snow may reopen talks of building new water resevoirs.

Europe's Alpine region is now experiencing its warmest period in 1,300 years according to a recent Associated Press (AP) article.

Another recent Associated Press (AP) article by Seth Borenstein points to warmer oceans having less phytoplankton, a basic building block of marine food chains, which would have dire consequences for human fisheries.

Agriculture will also suffer as areas stricken by drought will have shorter growing seasons, while other areas, with increased rainfall, may have reduced harvests due to flooding, is outlined in a recent Reuters article by Missy Ryan.