Perhaps you have experienced the odd heatwave or the occasional spring flood, but some of us live through these extreme weather events all too often. That is because climate change does not affect everyone at the same time or on the same scale. It takes different forms depending on where we live.
All over the world, people are losing their homes to wildfires and being impacted by floods, as well as suffering the effects of air pollution on their health.
The following experience provides a window into the far-reaching ways climate change affects the lives of millions of people worldwide, except that this window overlooks your street and the places you hold dear.
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When you have a fever, your body temperature rises above the normal range by one or two degrees, causing you to feel unwell, signaling that something is wrong in your body. Planet Earth is even more sensitive to temperature increases. Since the pre-industrial period, global average temperatures have risen by 1.25°C, with the last 10 years being the hottest ever recorded. Much like your body, which sends clear physical signals when you are sick, our planet’s lands, oceans and atmosphere also react to climate change.
Among these “symptoms,” we see an intensification in frequency and scale of extreme weather events such as floods and forest fires, along with a deterioration in air quality caused by human activity and the burning of fossil fuels.
Note 1: The consequences of climate change presented here are not exhaustive. We have chosen these climate events for visualization purposes only. See the About section for our references and to learn more about climate change and its consequences.
Note 2: This experiment is not an exercise in climate prediction. There is no correlation between the consequence chosen and the address entered. Our algorithm applies a systematic transformation regardless of the address.
Floods are the most frequent and deadliest of natural disasters. They occur when water submerges land that is normally dry.
Flooding is often the result of heavy rainfall, rapid melting of snow or ice, or storms in coastal areas. All these phenomena have increased with climate change, in terms of both frequency and intensity.
Flash floods kill 5000 people per year
Sea levels are expected to rise by 2 metres by the end of the century
Rising sea levels could disrupt the lives of 1 billion people by the end of 2050.
More than half of the world's population lives within 60 km of a coastline.
Floods account for about half of the 288 million people displaced since 2008 due to natural disasters.
After droughts, flooding is the second greatest threat to the agriculture sector. Between 2008 and 2018, floods were responsible for $21 billion US worth of crop and livestock losses in low and middle-income countries.
Even if you do not live near a waterway or a coastline, the devastating consequences of flooding for the people who experience them concern us all. Like a domino effect, the resulting human displacement resulting from flooding may put pressure on surrounding inland regions and disrupt the supply chain due to losses of crops and livestock.
Visit the What Now? section to learn more about flooding and what you can do to mitigate its impact.
Wildfires, also known as forest fires, are fires that occur in vegetated areas, such as forests or grasslands. Although they sometimes happen naturally, i.e., caused by lightning, they are primarily the result of human negligence, such as campfires, industrial activity, or arson.
Warmer and drier conditions significantly increase the risk of such fires, and that’s where climate change comes into the picture. As global warming intensifies temperature extremes, some regions are experiencing much more rainfall, while others are hit by severe periods of drought. The vast majority of the most devastating fires of the past decade have been associated with heatwaves and drought.
As much as 40% of the Amazon forest is at risk of becoming a savanna.
In 2015, forest fires claimed roughly 980 000 km2 of the world’s forest, 1.5 times the area of France.
Forest fires were responsible for 1.8 gigatonnes of carbon emissions in 2019, nearly as much as all emissions from international travel.
Wildfire activity in the boreal (northern) forests is predicted to increase dramatically. The Earth’s boreal forests are burning at a rate unseen in at least 10,000 years.
In 2020, the area north of the Arctic Circle in Eastern Siberia recorded its worst season for uncontrolled fires in 18 years. In California, 2020 accounted for the most wildfires ever recorded, with 20,232 happening in a single year.
In June and July 2020 alone, carbon dioxide emissions from Arctic wildfires were 35% higher than total emissions in 2019.
Even if you do not live in a fire-prone area, the impact of wildfires extends far beyond the regions directly affected. In addition to destroying property and infrastructure, crops and wildlife, as well as displacing thousands of people, these blazes release large amounts of carbon and fine particles into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. The polluted air also causes respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
As major carbon sinks, mature forests are the second most important natural store of greenhouse gas absorption after the oceans. Loss of these forests deprives us of a vital solution to slowing down climate change.
Visit the What Now? section to learn more about wildfires and what you can do to mitigate their escalation.
Taking on the form of a thick haze, smog is a type of air pollution that reduces visibility and compromises human health. Prevalent in large cities with high levels of traffic and industrial activity, smog is composed primarily of ozone (the type found at ground level, not in the atmosphere) and fine particulate matter emitted from smokestacks, vehicle exhausts and fires, among other things.
Although smog is not a direct consequence of climate change, the two are certainly related. Simply put, smog is one of the most visual manifestations of our worsening air quality. The type of smog common in cities today has serious effects on our respiratory system, both in the short-term and over years of exposure. This type of air pollution will continue to worsen with climate change.
Outdoor air pollution is believed to be responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths per year.
Air pollution is believed to be responsible for 6% of deaths worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 91% of the world's population lives in places where air pollution levels exceed the safety limits.
In low- and middle-income countries, indoor and outdoor air pollution causes more than 50% of lower respiratory tract infections in children under age five.
In Beijing, a shorter lifespan among citizens has been linked to high pollution levels. In fact, air pollution in Beijing has led to lower birth rates and a higher death rate among adults from respiratory diseases.
Although air pollution affects developed and developing countries alike, low- and middle-income countries are the hardest hit, particularly in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asian regions.
Even if you have never experienced smog, poor air quality has catastrophic short- medium- and long-term effects on the health of humans, animals and vegetation. Reducing air pollution plays a crucial role in the global fight against climate change since many of the factors that generate it are also sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Visit the What Now? section learn more about smog and other forms of air pollution and what you can do to mitigate their risks.
While it is impossible at this time to predict when or whether this phenomenon could affect this location, we should all be concerned about the high probability of it happening to thousands or millions of people around the world.
Human activity has the greatest impact on current rates of global heating. Click on "What now?" to find out what you can do about it.
The truth is that we are running out of time. Climate change poses a serious threat to humankind.
Unlike the images generated on this website, climate change is real and it’s happening right now.
Only 8% of the carbon budget remains before we reach 1.5° C of warming.
It took humanity less than 8 months to exhaust the Earth’s yearly resource budget in 2020.
G20 countries were responsible for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Here are real images of places around the world where people are working to overcome the climate crisis with innovative solutions.
Photos are courtesy of Climate Visuals, a Climate Outreach project.
We believe everyone should ask themselves how they as individuals and we as a society can make sustainable changes to mitigate the climate crisis.
It is time to use our voices, put the environment at the forefront of our decisions, and rethink our consumption and convictions.
We’ve put together a list of actions and resources for you.
Start by sharing your AI-generated visualization with your network. Make it known that you care. Let’s get more people, including your friends, family or even coworkers, to see the impacts of climate change for themselves.
The more people share this project, the greater the impact we will have at bringing about change.
Feel free to use the suggested caption below or create your own message using the project’s hashtags.
You might be too busy right now to take in all the information we have to share. How about emailing it to yourself for future reference?
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Climate change is a global emergency. Our political representatives and multinational corporations have the power to mitigate climate change, but they will not act unless we demand urgent measures and change our consumer behaviour.
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“The bigger issue is that focusing on individual choices around air travel and beef consumption heightens the risk of losing sight of the gorilla in the room: civilization’s reliance on fossil fuels for energy and transport overall, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of global carbon emissions.”
Here are some available mechanisms to put pressure on policy makers and large corporations:
Focus on systems:
How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate ChangeEngage with your representatives:
Ask your government to act on the climate crisis todayYour impact on the environment is influenced by different factors, such as where you live, your habits, your mobility, etc. It’s a good idea to start by estimating your carbon footprint
Diet
Avoid meat and dairy, it is the biggest way to reduce your impact on Earth What you eat matters much more than whether your food is localWant to learn more about climate change? We have curated a list of content resources that we believe can be highly useful!
For a complete list of sources used for this website, visit the About page
Climate Change
Everything you need to know about climate change in five minutes Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye Causes and Effects of Climate Change | National Geographic Why we need political action to rein in the oil, coal and gas companies | video explainer How to help the environment in the best way, according to climate experts Who Is Responsible For Climate Change? – Who Needs To Fix It? The Difference in Climate Impacts Between 1.5˚C and 2˚C of Warming MIT Climate Portal Demain - The filmFloods
Flooding and Climate Change: Everything You Need to Know Climate change: Warming signal links global floods and fires Five things to know about flooding and climate changeWildfires
Flooding and Climate Change: Everything You Need to Know MIT Climate Explainers: Wildfires Satellite Data Record Shows Climate Change's Impact on FiresSmog and other forms or air pollution
Air Pollution and Climate Change Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know