Does global warming really have the potential of wiping out makind?

Question

On several "How will mankind get wiped out?" questions everyone says global warming as the most probable killer. Is this true? I thought Global warming would only cause flooding, storms, drought, and selective climate change. I've heard of the northern ice caps melting, but will Antarctica melt also? Will this truly flood the world (as flooding the entire planet is the only way I can see mankind getting wiped out by global warming)?

Answer 1

Global Warming will not wipe us out because of flooding (although that will be a factor) the major threat from global warming is food supplies. Climate change from global warming will cause massive droughts in some areas and cause short but heavy rainfall in other areas. The temperature change will make it difficult to grow food crops in the current areas.

with less land, less rainfall, and different temperatures providing the human race with an adequit supply of food will be nearly impossible. The human race will not be wiped out enterily, however its possible we will be driven to the brink of extinction

Answer 2

yes global warming could wipe out mankind because the ozone layer is starting to ware away form all the greenhouse gasses in the world and thats from cars and fireworks and stuff like that

Answer 3

You're thinking big and dramatic.

What happens if rice, wheat, corn, oats, etc don't grow well at all in the new climate?  If the best farmlands are flooded or the water recedes too far to irrigate them, or they get scorched with 120 degree summers?  How do we feed billions of people if our food supply dwindles to what can support only 500 million?  

Now picture how aggressive and paranoid we are as a race.  What do you think will happen when nations of starving people decide they need what little food resources are left?

Answer 4

No. It's a scam.

Answer 5

Wiping out mankind?  Extremely unlikely.

Causing significant problems and some deaths?  Extremely likely

There won't be the kind of catastrophic events that Hollywood may portray, but there probably will be increased severe weather events (e.g. longer droughts, hotter heat-waves, more frequent serious floods, etc.).

Here's some of what the latest US Climate Change Science Program report says about weather extremes:

http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sa...

"In the future, with continued global warming, heat waves and heavy downpours are very likely to further increase in frequency and intensity. Substantial areas of North America are likely to have more frequent droughts of greater severity"

"Human-induced warming is known to affect climate variables such as temperature and precipitation. Small changes in the averages of many variables result in larger changes in their extremes. Thus, within a changing climate system, some of what are now considered to be extreme events will occur more frequently, while others will occur less frequently (e.g., more heat waves and fewer cold snaps"

Answer 6

No, mankind will not be "wiped out" by global warming. However, business as usual of continuing to increase the concentration of greenhouse gases will likely result in hardships, misery, and/or death to billions of people.[1] This will come in the form of water shortages and crop failures.

Here's an interesting article that I read last year in the business section, "Wheat prices reach record level"[2]. The gist of the story was crop failures as the result of "bad" weather, drought and floods. Here are some excerpts:

[quote] Bad weather in key grain growing areas such as Canada and parts of Europe has limited supplies as demand has risen, sparking fears of a supply shortfall.

Surging prices are also expected to have widespread fallout for consumers.

While it will mean higher bread prices, it could also trigger an increase in meat and dairy prices as farmers battle to pass on rising feed costs.

... Canada ... harvest ... slashed by a fifth ... result of drought.

... Australia -- ... third-largest wheat exporter -- ... harvests ... reduced by warmer-than-expected temperatures.

... Black Sea area of Europe ... crops ... ruined by bad weather.

... China ... (agriculture) production ... fall by 10% ... result of flooding and droughts. [end quote]

Now, no single drought, flood, or weather event can be attributed to global warming. But global warming will make all of these things more likely in the future.

Answer 7

no spazzy, be brave little camper. it won't be our fate to die in a fiery flood.

more likely are any number of horrific catastrophes to wipe us from existence in a single godawful instant.

massive meteor collision, nuclear holocaust, solar flares, massive tectonic realignment, engineered virus, natural virus, alien virus...on a massive meteor.

hope this makes you feel better.  :o)

Answer 8

global warming is really dangerous... heat produced in the earth is melting the ice bergs.... and the earth will become full of water. n yes there are chances if global warming increases for antartica to melt. for more information u can go to wikipedia the free encyclopedia.

Answer 9

Please READ Ken's Answer------- his is the most correct. Stop listening to your friends TEXT messaging you about the end of the world.

Answer 10

No, global warming is just a thesis...a very weak one and it's been proven wrong over and over again.

Answer 11

Ken's answer is by far the best. In short, it's extremely unlikely to wipe out humanity, but there's an excellent chance that it will make life a lot less pleasant for us.

You might find this helpful: http://environment.newscientist.com/chan...

Answer 12

Sure, but I am more worried about robots.

Answer 13

The long term estimates from the IPCC are sea level rise of around 24 inches and a temp rise of 2-5c deg hardly enough to wipe out mankind. The Arctic melting totally would have little effect on sea level because it is already floating in the ocean, so little change in displacement. If (an no scientist is saying this) Antarctica melted entirely (and that would take hundreds of years) sea level would go up 150-200m and change the land area of the whole Earth, but there is still a lot of land above this height.

If (and I doubt it) this happened humans would have to cope with some major changes, but we have proved in the past to be very good at that. If you consider that long before the current technological age humans were living everywhere from the Kalahri desert (+45c) to Alaska (-40)

Answer 14

I think it could have the potential to wipe out quite a lot of people, but as for the entire human race I think not.

Answer 15

NO!

Answer 16

Nope, cause it doesn't exist.

*Down with big brother*

Also, try putting a bunch of ice cubes (a.k.a. the polar ice caps) in a glass of water (a.k.a. the ocean). Then leave the glass at room temperature until the ice cubes melt. The water level will go down!!!!!! So... no flooding! But if we don't flood the REs(Radical Environmentalists) will say that we're causing a drought, so it's a lose-lose situation.