Climate change is here and as it gets worse and we pass our 3.6 °F threshold it’s likely going to cause a domino effect of issues. But even before we officially pass that global warming landmark, as we head towards its scientists say we’re already seeing issues. According to climate scientists, more than half of our planet's largest lakes are drying up. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00Climate change is here and as it gets worse and we pass our 3.6 degree Fahrenheit threshold,
00:05it's likely going to cause a domino effect of issues.
00:08But even before we officially pass that global warming landmark, as we head towards it,
00:13scientists say we're already seeing issues.
00:15According to climate scientists, more than half of our planet's lakes are drying up.
00:19Using satellite data from today and cross-referencing it with previous years,
00:23they say it's been happening since 1990.
00:26And after looking at some 2,000 lakes,
00:28they say they've lost collectively around 24 billion tons of water during that time.
00:32Or what Reuters reports is about 17 times the entire volume of Lake Mead,
00:37a lake which is also in trouble and drying up extremely rapidly,
00:40and is also the largest reservoir in the US.
00:43So where exactly is it all going?
00:45Well, according to the report,
00:4756% of the reduction in water levels is due to human consumption and a changing climate,
00:52meaning less rain and less snowfall in the winter to feed rivers,
00:55which eventually feed these lakes.
00:57And this is concerning.
00:58As the World Meteorological Organization reported late last year,
01:02they expect some 5 billion people to experience water scarcity by only 2050.