The climate crisis and the Lewes district

What happens if we go back to business as usual?

Long-term, global trends show us that the rate of global heating is accelerating. In this graph, from 1850-2019, the blue stripes are colder years and the red are hotter years.

This is because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, due to use of fossil fuels.

In fact, more than half of our total fossil fuel emissions have been emitted in the last three decades. The graph below shows just how rapidly and how consistently our emissions have been rising.

Why is this so important?

2050: More intense heatwaves and forest fires
“We will start to see the extreme end of the fire behaviour scale occur more frequently because of the increase of temperatures.”
Dr Richard Thornton, chief executive of the Bushfires & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre

2050: More intense storms, floods and hurricanes
The catastrophic impacts of more frequent severe storms, stronger hurricanes, and more devastating floods.

2050: Increased droughts and water shortages
“We know that with increased storms, increased floods, droughts and heat waves, production of food will be more problematic. Ensuring people have access to clean, safe drinking water will become much more difficult.”
Professor Mark Maslin, Professor of Climatology at University College London

“On the present projections, many parts of our country will face significant water deficits by 2050, particularly in the southeast, where much of the UK population lives.”
Sir James Bevan, chief executive of England’s Environment Agency

2050: Rising seas and increased coastal flooding
“The future for low-lying coastal communities looks extremely bleak… But the consequences will be felt by all of us. There is plenty to be concerned about for the future of humanity and social order”
Prof Jonathan Bamber at Bristol University

2050: More devastating loss of wildlife on land and in the oceans
“Climate change is the biggest threat wildlife will face this century.”
National Wildlife Federation

“The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity.”
World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

2050: Further reductions in food production
“Climate change will lead to battles for food.”
Jim Yong Kim, Former President of The World Bank

2050: More devastating impacts on human health
“Climate change poses the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.”
The Lancet Commission on Climate Change

2050: Mass displacement
“Climate change is the result of the greatest market failure the world has seen. We risk damages on a scale larger than the two world wars of the last century. What we are talking about is extended world war. People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people, would have to move.”
Lord Nicholas Stern, Professor of Economics and Government

2050: Poverty and financial instability
“Once climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late.”
Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England

So we can see why this is an issue for all of us. People are already feeling the effects in many countries, and our planet’s wildlife is suffering.

See WWF’s Living Planet Report 2018

See BBC Nature Crisis: Humans ‘threaten 1m species with extinction’