Have you ever wondered how the world will be destroyed when the end of the
world comes? Maybe by climate change? Ecological collapse? Noone knows. However,
what we do know is that the world is experiencing glacial melting caused by global
warming right now, and it can lead to all the possibilities of how the world will end that
are listed above.
It is clear that the earth is getting warmer due to global warming. It was proven
that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere had increased and led to the “Greenhouse
effect”. This is causing many environmental issues as well as especially worsening the
issue of melting glaciers. According to a study published in Science News by Carolyn
Gramling on glacial melting, Greenland lost ice at a rate of about 6,000 billion metric
tons each century during the past warm episode from about 10,000 to 7,000 years ago.
However, Greenland will be shedding ice faster than at any time in the past 12,000
years by 2100.
So, what will happen if all the glaciers on the earth suddenly melted? At first, the
global sea level will rise about 68 meters and above. Many coastal cities including
London and Sydney will be completely submerged due to the rise of sea level. About a
day after the glaciers melt, the atmospheric heat balance will be completely destroyed,
and millions of people will be homeless. One week later, as a tremendous amount of
fresh water suddenly poured into the ocean, the once stable ocean currents began to
undergo earth-shaking changes. Strong wind, heavy rain, tsunami, earthquakes and
those extreme weather events will come one after another, and the sea floor block will
also become active, releasing tons of energy. As time passes on, the global ecosystem
will become severely damaged, animals like polar bears and seals will lose their
habitats, and gradually towards extinction. After a year, the global temperature will begin
to rise about 20 degree Celsius. Under the merciless exposure of the sun, the crops will
be gradually dying, and human’s food supply will be greatly reduced. Successive high
temperatures will ignite dead vegetation and forests, and severe fires will erupt all over
the world. At this point, the surface of the Earth will no longer be suitable for human
survival, and we will also face extinction.
It is conceivable that the impact of melting glaciers on humans is too terrible. At
this point, due to global warming, the glacier's melting speed has already exceeded the
critical point. During September 2019, the United Nations issued that because of glacial
melting, “sea levels are rising, coral reefs are dying, and we are starting to see the
life-threatening impact of climate change on health, through air pollution, heatwaves and
risks to food security.” Although the world might not end by glacial melting, this is still a
severe problem and is likely to lead to the end of the world someday in the future.