The Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate and the process could lead to the most severe extinction in the history of the planet. This was warned by Dr. Valentin Simeonov, a scientist from the Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, in an interview for the program "This Saturday" on bTV.
"The great danger comes from the fact that this warming is very fast. There has never been such a rapid warming. The warming process is very fast – "It could lead to the complete disappearance of life and the fastest and most brutal extinction in the history of the Earth, in which human civilization will disappear," the expert said.
According to scientists, last year was the hottest in the history of meteorology, with warming reaching 1.6 degrees compared to the pre-industrial period of the late 19th century. "This value seems very small compared to what we observe daily, but a comparison must be made with the entire period in which human civilization has existed," explained Valentin Simeonov.
Climate change caused by human activity is accelerating dramatically. "Until the mid-1970s, warming was about 0.3 degrees. For the first time, warming exceeded 1 degree in 2010, and after 2015 it remained constant. Of the last 24 months, 21 of them have had temperatures above one and a half degrees Celsius," the scientist pointed out.
When these critical values are exceeded, other processes begin to develop that can significantly accelerate warming. By the end of the decade, more grouped extreme events such as heat waves, droughts, fires, heavy rains and floods can be expected.
According to forecasts, warming of 3-4 degrees is expected by the end of the century, which corresponds to a period 60-70 million years ago, when there were no glaciers on Earth. "This is the beginning of a new reality, because the Earth is warming much faster than we expected," warned Dr. Simeonov.
The expert stressed the extreme importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent catastrophic consequences for human civilization.