BY: JAYLENE MATIAS
As temperatures rise throughout the United States, various sectors will be greatly impacted, such as agriculture and human mortality amongst others. The economic sector is projected to lose trillions of dollars by the year 2070.
The economic effects will not be felt equally. The poorest areas will be impacted the most. These areas are projected to experience climate change related damages that will cost between 2 and 20 percent on that area’s income.
Rising temperatures make it harder for people to live and work due to heat stress, rising sea levels, damaged infrastructure and reduced agricultural productivity. Over the next 50 years it is possible that nearly 900,000
Jobs could disappear each year. The costs of climate change are predicted to be hundreds of millions of dollars annually and the southeast region will probably lose over a half a billion labor hours by the year 2100 due to extremely high temperatures
Farmers would also face tough times. The quality and quantity of their crops will decline across the country due to higher temperatures, drought and flooding. In the Midwest, some farms produce less than 75% of the corn they produce today and in the south the soybean yields could lose more than 25% of their crops.
Heat stress has already cost the dairy industry $1.2 billion since 2010. Over the next 12 years, heat stress could cause average dairy production to decrease between 0.60% and 1.35%. Rising sea levels, flooding and storm surges along the US coasts have threatened public infrastructure and $1 trillion in wealth held in real estate. Energy systems will be taxed, which means that there would be more blackouts and power failures and that could cause a loss of billions of dollars per year by the end of the century
Sea levels have gone up 7 to 8 inches since 1900 and half of that rise has been since 1993. Some countries are already seeing land underwater. Higher sea levels and storm surges combined will have an effect on the annual cost of coastal storms. It is possible that in the next 20 years the cost of coastal storms will be $35 billion.
When hurricane Harvey struck Texas in 2017, the estimated losses were $125 billion. In 2012 hurricane Sandy caused $71 billion in damages. In the last decade billions of dollars have already been spent in repairing damages from major storms.
If nothing is done to curb the climate change problem we are currently facing, the risks will multiply over the next few decades. By the year 2050, between $66 billion and $106 billion worth of coastal property will be below sea level globally.
Labor productivity will also go down. Outdoor workers working in construction, utility maintenance, landscaping and agriculture will go down by as much as 3% by the end of the century.
