Climate Change tool and My list of signs of the Great Waves of Change

https://epa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=3805293158d54846a29f750d63c6890e

I thought some of you might be interested in this climate change scenarios map.  It’s the EPA’s Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) Climate Scenarios Projection Map. This map provides easy-to-access scenario-based climate change projections drawn from CREAT.  You can zoom in on your area of the country and see projected temperatures, sea level rise, storms, precipitation, and extreme heat projections.  

Also, I’ve been watching signs for climate change, political and economic changes, and so on for awhile now.  Here’s a list of some of my observations:

1.  Authoritarianism is on the rise in the world. 

2.  Surveillance of the public via cameras and openly listening to our private conversations in our homes and work places via our tech devices.  It may not seem like a problem now, but it has the potential to be make us vulnerable to authoritarian control of our private behaviors and activities.

3. Greater wealth disparity within societies.  The rich are becoming richer, more politically powerful, and increasingly isolated from the rest of us.

4.  Political and religious polarity is increasing.  We are less willing to compromise as we concentrate on our disparate ideologies.  Each side dehumanizes the other, making it easier to dismiss the others’ concerns.  There’s talk of civil war in the USA and doing away with separation of church and state here, as well.

5.  Increased violence from religious fundamentalists, who cannot see their own extremism.

6.  Shallower, narcissistic pursuits via social media and hero worship of celebrities.  Less focus on ethics, principles, and altruism as heroic characteristics.

7.  Ice caps, glaciers, and thawing permafrost are happening sooner than predicted resulting in sea level rise and increased methane in the atmosphere.  Methane is a much better greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

8. Acidification of the oceans as they continue to absorb carbon dioxide.  Shellfish can’t build shell if they are being chemically eaten away by carbonic acid.  Coral reefs suffer, as well, from acidity and increased ocean temperatures.

9. Continued subsidies given to fossil fuel companies to extract the final fossil fuel resources of the world, despite the need to reach zero emissions to keep the projected global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius.  

10. Greater acceptance of open racism.  Increased objection to refugees and other immigrants despite the increased need for places for people to live due to war, climate change and famine.

11.  Greater acceptance of corruption and greed among politicians and businesses

12. Extreme flooding and drought throughout the world.  This summer we saw records broken for extreme heat, 1000 year floods, and rivers drying up in the USA, Europe, and China.

13. IPCC reports predictions for extreme climate conditions for this century and next are disturbing.  What we do now will affect our climate for 1000s of years to come.

14.  Crop production drops in important regions of the world including California and the US midwest.

15.  Millions of people dying of Covid.  New diseases emerging as populations increase.

16.  Fires all over the world, but especially in the Arctic circle, western US, Siberia, Australia, and Europe.

17. Rapid deforestation in the Amazon region.

18.  Forever chemicals found in rainwater and soil.

19.  Microplastics found everywhere, including in humans.

20.  Increased threat of nuclear war as the war in Ukraine continues

21. Dangerous climate change tipping points projected to be crossed much sooner than expected including the Greenland ice sheet collapse, the west Antarctic ice sheet collapse, collapse of ocean circulation in northern Atlantic, die off of coral reefs in lower latitudes, sudden permafrost thawing, and abrupt sea ice loss in the Barents Sea

22.  Red tide and other toxic algae blooms along coast lines

23. Insect populations dropping

24.  Bird populations dropping

26.  Animal extinction predicted on mass scales, as we enter the 6th mass extinction the world has endured

27.  Rolling blackouts from inadequate power grids

28. Unexplained ozone depletion in a band encircling the equatorial region of Earth

29.Decreased sperm counts in men around the world

30.  Children reaching puberty earlier than ever before

31.  Overfishing of the world’s oceans

32. Albedo decreasing as the world loses ice and snow, increasing absorption of sunlight, further heating the world

I have more but I think this will do for now.