Реферат: A Guide To The End Of The

series of true mega disasters, with death tolls exceeding one

million.The picture I have painted is certainly bleak, but the

reality may be even worse. Future rises in population and

vulnerability will take place against a background of dramatic climate change, the like of which the planet has not

experienced for maybe 10,000 years. The jury remains out

on the precise hazard implications of the rapid warming

expected over the next hundred years, but rises in sea

level that may exceed 80 centimetres are forecast in the

most recent (2001) report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change). This will certainly increase

the incidence and impact of storm surges and tsunamis

and – in places – raise the level of coastal erosion. Other

consequences of a temperature rise that could reach 6

degrees Celsius by the end of the century may include

more extreme meteorological events such as hurricanes,

tornadoes, and floods, greater numbers of landslides in

mountainous terrain, and, eventually, even more volcanic

eruptions. So is the world as we know it about to end and, if so, how?

A century from now will we be gasping for water in an

increasingly roasting world or huddling around a few burning sticks, struggling to keep at bay the bitter cold of a cosmic

winter?