A new prediction has suggested 30,000,000 could be killed by 2100.
Scientists are full of doom and gloom about the end of days, and if it's not polar ice caps melting and flooding the Earth, it's rogue asteroids or alien invasions that will see the end of the human race.
While not quite wiping us all out, scientists have a terrifying new prediction about a global disaster that will claim 30 million lives. What's even worse is that our current attitude of guzzling gas and discarding plastics as billionaires jet around the world is going to directly contribute to this alarming death toll.
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Although this pandemic won't hit us in one go, climate change and air pollution are expected to be responsible for around 30 million deaths by the year 2100. Considering that's only 76 years away from the time we're writing this, that's a harrowing number of deaths in a relatively short space of time. Crunching the numbers, it would be the equivalent of 394,737 deaths a year based on climate change and air pollution.
After a recent UN report claimed that Planet Earth is bracing for a 'catastrophic' 3.1°C global temperature increase by 2100, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry looked into what else is coming our way.
According to the research, numerical simulations point to a trend where pollution-related deaths are expected to soar five-fold. Temperature-related mortality is projected to rise seven-fold, meaning this is an even bigger risk than air pollution for at least 20% of the world.
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Areas most affected by air pollution will be poorer regions like South and East Asia, which is accelerated by aging populations and air pollution already being a critical health risk. High-income regions like Western Europe, North America, Australasia, and the Asia Pacific are more likely to be hit by deaths from temperature-related issues.
The study notes that temperature-related deaths are already a problem in the USA, UK, France, Japan, and New Zealand.
Dr. Andrea Pozzer, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, explained: "In 2000, around 1.6 million people died each year due to extreme temperatures, both cold and heat. By the end of the century, in the most probable scenario, this figure climbs to 10.8 million, roughly a seven-fold increase.
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"For air pollution, annual deaths in 2000 were about 4.1 million. By the century's close, this number rises to 19.5 million, a five-fold increase."
Echoing Pozzer's thoughts, Jean Sciare, director of the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center of The Cyprus Institute, added: "These findings highlight the critical importance of implementing decisive mitigation measures now to prevent future loss of life."
Stephen Hawking has a chilling doomsday theory that predicted overpopulation and the like will turn the Earth into a 'giant ball of fire' by the year 2600, but these results suggest massive deaths based on climate change and air pollution much sooner.
Even though some might just write climate change off damaging nature, Pozzer reiterates: "Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is a direct threat to public health."