Consequences

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Consequences
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Current Status of Various Environmental Systems
Any system over the green zone has exceeded its
safety limits.
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Planetary Boundaries
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Potential Politically-relevant Tipping Elements
in Earths Climate System
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Some Current General Consequences of Global
Warming

• More Severe Heat Waves of Greater Duration
• Sea-level Rise and Ocean Acidification
• Glaciers, Ice Sheet and Permafrost Melting
• Spreading Disease
• Plant and Animal Range Shifts Plus Extinctions
• Coral Reef Degradation
• More Severe and Frequent Weather Events
• More Severe and Frequent Flooding
• More Severe Droughts and Fires

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The IPCC Reasons for Concern (2001) Were Updated
in 2009
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Spreading Diseases
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Spread of Malaria with Temperature Increase
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Part 6a

• The
• Melting
• Earth

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Mountain Glaciers

• Over 95 of mountain glaciers are shrinking

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Mountain Glacier Thinning Since 1970
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Glacial Mass Decrease from 1980 to 2004
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Average Glacial Thickness Change (cm/yr), and
Cumulative Mean Thickness Change (m)
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Cumulative Decrease in Global Glacier Ice
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Melting Glaciers
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Rongbuk Glacier
Rongbuk glacier in 1968 (top) and 2007. The
largest glacier on Mount Everests northern
slopes feeds Rongbuk River.
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Mt. Kilimanjaro Glacier Loss
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The Only Two Ice Sheets