We face the great climate change crises convergence, when the direct impacts of climate change no longer are single items to be listed, researched and debated. Rather, these expanding impacts now routinely combine into a multi-headed hydra creating localized desolation with global consequences.

What follows below is a list some of the consequences of climate change.  This list gives many of the current, future and speculative impacts. This list was collated with my own entries along with contributions from many individuals who responded to a Twitter post I made in August, 2021.  With gratitude to all who have contributed and helped compile this list.

This work will be ongoing.  As new things happen I will add them as needed.  There is no special organization to this list other than it is alphabetical.  Some categories may overlap with others.

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The Consequences of Climate Change

1. Acid rain
2. Algae blooms
3. Ash & smoke
4. Bees & pollination loss
5. Biodiversity loss
6. Breakdown of culture
7. Civil unrest
8. Climate refugees & migration
9. Communications disruptions
10. Coral bleaching
11. Crop failures
12. Death
13. Deforestation
14. Denial/grief/anger/anxiety
15. Desertification
16. Disease, pandemics
17. Diseases (plants & animals)
18. Doomsday & other cults
19. Droughts
20. Drying up of lakes & rivers
21. Drying up of wells & springs
22. Earth axis shift
23. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes
24. Ecosystem collapse
25. Extreme cold
26. Fertility
27. Fertility decline
28. Financial/bank/stock collapse
29. Fires
30. Floods
31. Food & water riots
32. Hazardous & polluted air
33. Heat waves
34. Heritage & culture loss
35. Homelessness
36. Hunger, famine & starvation
37. Hypercanes (need >50C SST)
38. Hypercapnia (breathing CO2)
39. Increased criminality
40. Infrastructure collapse
41. Insurance industry collapse
42. Invasive species
43. Isostatic adjustment
44. Loss of arable land
45. Loss of atmospheric oxygen
46. Loss of potable water
47. Melting Antarctic land ice
48. Melting Arctic Sea ice
49. Melting glaciers
50. Melting Greenland ice
51. Mental health / depression
52. Methane release
53. More frequent storms
54. More powerful storms
55. Nuclear plant meltdown
56. Ocean acidification
57. Ocean deoxygenation
58. Ontological shock
59. Ozone layer depletion
60. Permafrost thaw
61. Persistent Rossby waves
62. Physical health
63. Political instability
64. Pot holes
65. Price instability & inflation
66. Rainforest degradation
67. Reanimated bacteria/viruses
68. Religious unrest
69. Rising water temperatures
70. Scorpionadoes
71. Sea level rise
72. Shutdown of AMOC, SMOC
73. Species extinction (100+/day)
74. Supply chain collapse
75. Transportation collapse
76. Unemployment & poverty
77. War & terrorism
78. Weakened polar vortices

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References

Algae Blooms

• Is Humanity Doomed? Science Says We Are In The Middle Of A ‘Mass Extinction Event’, India Times, September 26, 2021
• Mass Extinction Events Can Turn Freshwater Into Toxic Soup, And It’s Already Happening, Science Alert, September 19, 2021

Bees & Pollination Loss

• Bumblebees are going extinct in a time of climate chaos, National Geographic, February 7, 2020
• Climate change reduces the abundance and diversity of wild bees, study finds, PENN State News, September 5, 2021

Doomsday & Other Cults

• Give up your political doomsday cults, AL.com, September 20, 2020

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes

• How climate change triggers earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes, The Guardian, October 16, 2016
• Get Ready for More Volcanic Eruptions as the Planet Warms, Scientific American, December 21, 2017

Extreme Cold

• Antarctica’s last 6 months were the coldest on record, CNN, October 9, 2021

Fertility

• Climate change a threat to fertility long before it makes habitats unliveable – study, Newshub, May 25, 2021

Hypercanes

• Climate change may bring ‘supercanes,’ experts say, The Globe and Mail, September 20, 2003

Loss of Atmospheric Oxygen

• The global oxygen budget and its future projection, Science Direct, September 30, 2018

Nuclear Plant Meltdown

• Climate Change Could Cause Fukushima-Style Meltdowns in the US, The_Byte, April 19, 2019

Ocean Deoxygenation

• Ocean Deoxygenation, IUCN, Undated

Ozone Layer Depletion

• The ozone hole over the South Pole is now bigger than Antarctica, CNN, September 16, 2021

Physical Health

• More than 230 journals warn 1.5°C of global warming could be ‘catastrophic’ for health, CNN, September 5, 2021

Pot Holes

• Climate change will make Indianapolis pothole problem even worse, Indy Star, May 3, 2022
• Pothole season in Winnipeg this year could be a taste of what’s to come with climate change, CBC News, May 1, 2022

Scorpionadoes

• More that 250 hospitalized from scorpion stings after storm in Egypt, NBC News, November 15, 2021

Supply Chain Collapse

• The workers who keep global supply chains moving are warning of a ‘system collapse’, CNN, September 29, 2021

 

 

 

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Last Revised: September 5, 2021