Children Born After 2020 Will Experience Up To 7 Times More Extreme Climate Events
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Flames burn up a giant tree as part of the Windy Fire in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in Sequoia National Forest, Calif. Children in younger generations will experience two to seven times more extreme climate events like wildfires, a new study says.
Noah Berger/AP
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Noah Berger/AP
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36 times more heat waves
The forecasts for how these events could drastically impact younger generations were startling.
The scientists compared a person born in 1960 to a child who was six years old in 2020. The six—year—old will experience twice as many cyclones and wildfires, three times as many river floods, four times as many crop failures and five times as many droughts.
Heat waves, though, will be the most prevalent extreme climate event, with 36 times as many occurring for the six-year-old.
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Younger generations in lower income nations will be most affected
The study shows that extreme weather events could affect younger generations in various regions of the world differently. People who were younger than 25 years old by 2020 in the Middle East and North Africa will likely experience more exposure to extreme climate events compared to other regions. The researchers say overall, younger generations living in lower income countries will experience the worsening climate at a higher rate than their peers in wealthier countries.
The data from the study show how limiting the increase in global warming and adapting policies that align with the Paris Climate Accords are beneficial, the researchers argue. But even then, younger generations are still left with «unprecedented extreme event exposure,» they write.
- Climate change activism
- Gen Z
- generation z
- heat waves
- extreme weather
- climate change
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