We’re all going to die. And not in a good, everyone-has-a-number kind of way.
A new prophesy economic report from the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law (hailed by The Huffington Post as a brilliant and well-reasoned argument for the U.S. to lead the charge against climate change/global warming/the Impending Apocalypse) predicted there would be about 69,000 climate change-related deaths in the United States per year by the end of the century, if nothing is done to stem the tide of pollution and global warming. (NYU also blamed climate change for causing the unrest that triggered the current Syrian civil war and resulting refugee crisis in Europe, so clearly The End has begun).
What’s more, the report details how the carbon-fueled disaster headed to A Town Near You is so much worse than we realize -- a dire prediction that sounded an awful lot like the one President Obama gave during this year's GLACIER Conference.
So store up your canned goods and buckle your seat belts, kids. Courtesy of NYU's new report, here’s what’s headed your way:
Death. Of course.
By the end of the century, unchecked climate change could cause 57,000 deaths each year across the country due to worse air quality, plus at least 12,000 deaths annually due to extreme temperature and weather events (based on data and populations in just 49 major U.S. cities).
Blackouts. Which we could easily combat by burning coa – oh, wait.
By the middle of the century, electricity demand could increase up to 4%, with $34 billion more in annual supply costs.
No more loans from China.
Financial markets may also suffer, as foreign countries become less able to loan money to the United States and as the value of U.S. firms declines with shrinking foreign profits.
No shrubs.
...up to $11 billion annually in agricultural damages and $1.5 billion annually in forestry damages...
No water.
...and up to $180 billion in losses to key economic sectors due to water shortages.
Too much water.
Over the next eighty-five years, without mitigation or adaptation to climate change, sea level rise and storm surges could damage $5.0 trillion worth of U.S. coastal property.
Best Buy will go out of business.
Shocks to the supply of energy, technological, and agricultural goods could be especially damaging. For example, when Thailand—the world’s second-largest producer of hard-drives—experienced flooding in 2011, U.S. consumers faced higher prices for many electronic goods, from computers to cameras.
No jobs.
By the end of the century, the U.S. economy could face damages of $110 billion annually in lost labor productivity due to extreme temperatures...
More illegal aliens, who will come take all those jobs we no longer have because the earth is scorched, which doesn't matter because we’ve all dropped dead of a heat stroke.
...and a number of other climate damages could precipitate mass migration to the United States from regions worldwide, perhaps especially from Latin America.
Mr. Trump’s wall (to keep out the illegal aliens who come to take the jobs we won’t have) could get even more expensive.
Such an influx could strain the U.S. economy and will likely lead to increased U.S. expenditures on migration prevention.
The Return of the Pox, which we’ll get from the illegal aliens who climb Mr. Trump’s expensive wall to take the jobs we won’t have.
Infectious disease could also spill across the U.S. borders, exacerbated by ecological collapses, the breakdown of public infrastructure in poorer nations, declining resources available for prevention, shifting habitats for disease vectors, and mass migration.
A military under water…
... threats to U.S. military installations and operations abroad from flooding, storms, extreme heat, and wildfires…
…or a military that basically just becomes the Peace Corps.
...the U.S. military will be called on to respond to refugee flows and natural disasters, and conflicts over water and food…
More terrorists.
...climate effects ‘are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions— conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence,’ and as a result ‘climate change may increase the frequency, scale, and complexity of future missions, including defense support to civil authorities, while at the same time undermining the capacity of our domestic installations to support training activities.’”
All followed by the general end of the world.
...water and food scarcity...
...flooding or extreme weather events...
...violent conflicts...
...economic collapses...
Geez, that's encouraging. Never mind that Antarctica has actually been gaining ice, according to the most recent NASA report showing the southernmost ice caps are thickening faster than they're melting. And never mind that the same agency's recent claim that this past year was the "hottest year on record" was based on a 2/100-of-a-degree "rise" grounded in sketchy measuring tactics and falling well within the study's margin of error.
But death and destruction for all, folks!