What Happens if Earth Gets 2°C Warmer?

Over the last 20 years, 2°C has been referenced in climate policies and agreements made by the Council of the European Union, the G8 (now the G7), and more. So what makes two degrees so important?

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Producer/Video by:
Jason Lederman

Narrator:
Amy Schellenbaum

Media/Archive
NASA
NOAA
Pond5
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of State
Google Earth
Pixabay
Wikimedia Commons
Samuel Barst

CC by 2.0

Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

Music
APM Music

Interviews
Dr. Dan Horton, Northwestern University
Dr. Manoj Joshi, University of East Anglia

Special Thanks
Yale University
Stockholm Environment Institute
Tom McNamara
Amy Schellenbaum
Rachel Feltman
Sara Chodosh
Samuel Barst

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FOLLOW POPULAR SCIENCE

[blakelondon]

"If the world gets warmer by 2 degrees C, we're screwed." Thanks. That's all I needed to know. I appreciate you getting straight to the point.

[auroranstrm]

I love how she said in the beginning "If earth's temperature increase by 2 degrees Celsius we're screwed. Period!

[donfields]

Its already been established 2 degrees isnt the threshold, its more like 1.5 and we just dont have a snowballs chance in hell of getting through this without major global disasters. There are so many factors, feedbacks etc, that are all on exponential curves and we are at the cusp of going verticle on many of them. Going verticle = bye bye civilization as we know it, and perhaps humanity as a whole. The human form, such an amazing creature with emmense potential thwarted by greed, so sad. I wrestle with the question...do we deserve to not go extinct?

[gamestats]

I'm done with the capitalist rat race. I just want to live a simple life away from people. What can I do to remove my carbon footprint? Live off grid in a tiny house?

[UteChewb]

I remember when I was a schoolkid in the 60s. I studied geography and the growing conditions and harvesting of various crops. I remember thinking, "Gee, if the average temperature increased by just a couple of degrees, there wouldn't be a wheat belt." That insight still haunts me. Here in Australia over the last 20 years the wheat belt has shrunk significantly, about 50%, but offset by doubled efficiency in the harvest. Can you imagine what another degree or two will bring?

[luscioushermit]

"what if the world were to suddenly get warmer”

-the last of us

[aclem]

We are on path to go higher then the 2 degree increase now and Nothing of significance has been done to stop it going up by 4 degrees by 2100. At this point even if we got serious major damage has already been done and will not be reversible in the near term.

[ncooty]

The U.S. won't be affected by an increase of 2 degrees Celsius, because the U.S. uses Fahrenheit. Take that, metric system.

[nataleegwinn]

Bill nye: meaning, the earth is on f*cking fire.

[Dan]

CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reached 415.70 ppm on May 15, 2019. We are now sleepwalking to 3.2 degrees. Despite all the Paris talking, nobody is doing anything. Humanity is totally in autofuck mode.

[DaNintendude]

being a Fahrenheit user, 2 degrees doesn't seem like much of a change, but with Celsius, it is slightly (but still more). That's right. We are talking about 3.6 degrees.

[blue]

Stop fussing about 2° 4° let's do something to make our fossil fuel power plants and energy infrastructure "Carbon Neutral" NOW! We have the technology and resources to do that, all we need is 'OpenMinded Will' to collectively do it!

[roberthicks]

There is a reason that 2°C is the "magic" number. it is the hottest we can possibly get while the Himalayan Mountains exist.

[alycallaghan]

People are correct in saying we need to stop population growth, stoping having so many kids, but obviously it would be impossible to implement and regulate

[crand]

I hope I am dead before these dramatic climate changes happen. Young people today are screwed. There will be nothing left for them.

[dulynoted]

Well, as far as the U.S. goes, replacing Lamar Smith of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology who is retiring 2018, with a Progressive who isn’t bought by big oil like he has proven to be, will help!

[jackfrost]

They forgot to mention what would happen if it rose four or five degrees.Then they could increase the panic and get more carbon tax.

[daman]

2 degrees warmer??? Um, what about the eemian interglacial? Tad warmer than today!

[ankeralaphelt]

Some monthly averages over the last couple of years have reached or exceeded 1.5 C. Nordhaus's calculation along with the assessments of the IPCC may be underestimates. The Arctic is well on it's way to a blue ocean event while the Siberian, AK, and Canadian permafrost melt and emit large volumes of methane. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that our current civilization is in the process of destroying itself.

[adams]

It's not an "if" our planet warms by 2 degrees but when. With current policies it looks likely that we will get to 2 degrees in 2050s.