ABSTRACT
The concern for global warming and its effects have gained considerable momentum over the last 30 years. The consensus around the origins of climate change points to the increase in GHG emissions in the post-industrial revolution period as a major cause. Climatologists agree unanimously that the temperature over the past 150 years is increasing, with drift of 1.5–5°C per 100 years, and the drift itself inflates also over the recent past. The foreseeable impact over the human habitat consists of a very broad spectrum of scenarios from very moderate to post-apocalyptic pictures, including a significant rise in sea levels, drought, major damages in agriculture, contractions of water reserves, increases in natural catastrophes, massive migrations and political conflicts. Most of these predictions already took place “avant la lettre”: island countries like Kiribati are supposed to relocate due to rising sea level; increases in both prices and volatilities of agricultural commodities; Katrina-type events are more frequent; etc. Thus, one could argue we are already living in the post-climate change era.
