Today marks Earth Day, 50 years of a global celebration focused on green and sustainable efforts to protect our planet. As we battle the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we can see clear similarities between the suffering caused by this crisis and the suffering that we will face as a population if we do not address the climate crisis.
We need to listen to scientists and take proper action now before it is too late. Prevention will save lives and protect our economy from future collapses. Scientists estimate that if temperatures only rise to 2°C, global gross domestic product will fall 15%. If temperatures rose to 3°C, global GDP will fall 25%. And if we do nothing, temperatures will rise by 4°C by 2100 causing a global GDP decline by more than 30%, compared to 2010 levels. That's worse than the Great Depression, where global trade fell 25%. The stark difference is that this economic crisis would be permanent.
This would also cause repercussions of mass food insecurity and malnutrition. 1.5°C of global warming could expose 500 million people to water poverty and 36 million people to food insecurity because of lower crop yields—this will increase exponentially after 1.5°C. On our current trajectory, by 2050, an estimated additional 175 million people could have zinc deficiencies (which lowers immune system and delays wound healing, leads to stunted growth, impotence, mental lethargy, eye and skin lesions, and more). Additionally, on our current trajectory, by 2050 an estimated 122 million additional people could be protein deficient, which would increase the severity of infections, increase the risk of bone fractures, stunt growth, etc.