Terrifying Photos That Demonstrate The Effects of Climate Change

The Alps: Now

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Global warming has caused temperatures to rise in the Alps by just below 2 degrees Celcius over the past 120 years. Researchers suggest that that temperatures are expected to increase another 2 degrees Celcius over the next 40 years as well. This is directly causing the disappearance of the alpine glaciers and is one of the biggest indicators of global warming. In the past few decades, many of the alpine glaciers have been reduced to half their original size, and it is assumed that by the end of the century essentially all of them will have disappeared entirely. Furthermore, the shrinking of these glaciers also creates what is known as the feedback effect. This means that the smaller the glaciers, the less amount of light is reflected off of them, so the sun ends up heating the earth more. In addition, the melting of these glaciers brings about the worry of the revival of “zombie pathogens” that were once frozen in ice, only to be freed again.

Imagine what’s happening in Siberia…