10 Things That Could Disappear in Your Lifetime, Thanks to Climate Change

Though some American politicians continue to debate whether climate change is real, scientists have long sounded the warning bells that human-caused global warming is rapidly getting worse. Some warn that we may be close to the point of no return, leaving future generations to deal with the calamitous impacts of earth's rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather patterns. (The most alarmist studies claim that climate change will usher in the sixth mass extinction). Unless our society can curb human emissions, here are 10 things that could be gone in the next century:

1. Your future income. Well, not literally all of your income — but a new report by Demos and NextGenClimate estimates that Millennials as a whole will lose up to $8.8 trillion if the world doesn't act to stop climate change now. Demos president Heather McGhee told DemocracyNow.org that the study analyzed the financial cost of extreme weather events and curbed agriculture production, noting, "when temperatures rise over a certain point, GDP falls. And we know that when GDP falls, wages fall, jobs fall. ​"

2. Pretty much all of America's national parks. If you like nature, well, prepare to wish it farewell. 

3. Millions of people. An increase in extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, and infections diseases means that more people are going to die unless we can reverse this trend. The World Health Organization predicts, "Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year" from ailments like malnutrition, malaria, and heat waves.

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4. The Maldives. Low-lying islands and communities at sea level are at risk of flooding as water levels continue to rise. The Maldives, a set of extremely Instagrammable islands in the Indian Ocean, is the lowest-lying country in the world and is considering relocation options for its citizens. Much of Indonesia is also in danger of disappearing — as many as 1,500 islands could be underwater by 2050.

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5. Coffee!!!!!! The exclamation points are very necessary to convey how energized coffee makes us and how tedious life will become when coffee turns into a luxury good. The Guardian reports that a fungus known as "coffee rust," insects, and droughts are already plaguing Latin and South America, where some of the world's most popular coffee beans grow.

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6. Wine. Prices of wine are going to soar, experts say, thanks to fluctuations in weather patterns that will make wine grapes harder to grow and harvest in places like France, California, and Australia. My advice is to start stockpiling giant jugs of Carlos Rossi now.

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7. And chocolate. Cocoa beans​ are going the way of wine grapes, and romance will soon be dead.

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8. Wild animals. World Wildlife Federation director of science and policy Mark Barratt told the Guardian in 2014, "We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now." That loss, by the way, occurred in just the last four decades. Animals at risk include the polar bear, the golden toad, and koalas.

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9. This village in Alaska. Shishmaref​, a 500-person Inuit community just north of the Bering Strait, has voted to relocate to mainland Alaska due to climate change. It is one of 31 communities in Alaska endangered by rising sea levels.

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10. Most of our glaciers. ​As the earth's temperature rises, glaciers are melting. Scientists predict that one-quarter of all mountain glaciers will be gone by 2050.​ Glacier melt at the poles is contributing to sea rise and changing currents, and slowly killing off life in the Arctic.

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