• Question: are we more likely to die of a pandemic or global warming

    Asked by anon-210266 to Verity, Sergio, Nick, Maria, David, Annette on 5 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: David Whitworth

      David Whitworth answered on 5 Mar 2019:


      This is a good question, as there are many factors that lead to either one, and I think they are both on a long term. Global warming is something that happens over a long period and if we don’t do something soon to stop it then we will go past the tipping point and not be able to repair the damage done. As to whether it will kill us or not, that depends on how far we let it go. If we do nothing, and keep going at the current rate then the world would be unable to support life in the near future, within around 200years.
      Pandemics or superbugs could easily wipe out vast portions of the population as we have seen with things like the Black Plague. Whether we are completely wiped out depends on scientific research and whether we can come up with new ways to combat disease quick enough.
      The simple answer is you as an individual are more likely to die of a disease than global warming, but as a species there are many factors that could affect each one as to whether it would kill us all, or just wipe a lot of us out.

    • Photo: Maria Walach

      Maria Walach answered on 5 Mar 2019:


      It depends on how we act. It’s a bit tricky to forecast either but as an individual person you are probably more likely to die from a disease than global warming. As bugs and diseases evolve they are becoming harder to battle, but we can still do something about climate change. Global warming itself can kill us in the long run, and it has so many side-effects that easily could – food shortages for example!
      Both are dangerous, but we can still do something about climate change, as it’s not too late to make sure our climate doesn’t change too much. It’s something we can plan for and it’s within our control. Pandemics are mostly outside of our control though and when they hit us, we have to try and adapt!

    • Photo: Nick Werren

      Nick Werren answered on 6 Mar 2019:


      In our life time, a pandemic is possible. However, pandemics have happened before and the human race has always survived.

      BUT human-created climate change is something completely new. We are currently destroying nature, and if we continue it might mean the end of all life on Earth, not just humans. So I’d say that’s more dangerous.

    • Photo: Annette Raffan

      Annette Raffan answered on 6 Mar 2019:


      Oooo – good question. I suspect that we are more likely to die of some effect of global warming in the future at least. At this very moment it would be a pandemic because global warming is not significantly advanced to have enough effect, because it is a more gradual process (though not in historical terms). It is likely global warming will have severe effects on the foods we grow and the free natural services we rely on – such as pollination and cleaning of water. Global warming may cause a pandemic in itself especially for wild organisms or food crops. We will have less adaptability in future to new outbreaks due to habitat loss etc.

    • Photo: Sergio Adan Bermudez

      Sergio Adan Bermudez answered on 11 Mar 2019:


      It is a very good question indeed. On the one hand, there are not many diseases that we do not know of and it is true that there are super bacteria resistant to antibiotics, but it does not seem to be a pandemic problem. I think the effects of global warming are far more visible and will be more important in the near future!

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