Why is 1.5 degrees such a big deal?

A brief answer to one of the key questions about climate change: Why is 1.5 degrees such a big deal? (Written by Myles Allen, David Biello and George Zaidan)

Why is 1.5 degrees such a big deal?

Because to warm our entire planet up
by 1.5 degrees Celsius

requires a lot of heat.

All this extra heat melts glaciers,
which raise sea levels.

If the ice sheets of Antarctica
and Greenland melt completely,

millions of people's homes
will be under water.

The extra heat also intensifies weather,

making wet places wetter, dry places drier

and increasing the ferocity of storms.

That 1.5-degree increase
also won't be distributed evenly.

The coldest nights in the Arctic
might get 10 degrees warmer.

The warmest days in Mumbai
might get five degrees hotter.

Over the past 10,000 years,
we've been lucky.

Earth's climate was stable
and our civilizations flourished.

But as our climate gets more unstable,
so will our economies and our societies.

We'll all suffer,

and the vulnerable will be hit hardest,

unless we act now.

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