Eric Block On Responsible Branding

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim was interviewed recently in The Washington Post about Climate Change and its impact  on populations of people around the world.

“If there is no action soon, the future will become bleak. The World Bank Group released a report in November that concluded that the world could warm by 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) by the end of this century if concerted action is not taken now.” said Yong Kim.

Especially vulnerable will be the largest population centers around the world who live near the oceans – who are expected to rise with melting polar ice.

He continued, “A world that warm means seas would rise 1.5 to 3 feet, putting at risk hundreds of millions of city dwellers globally. It would mean that storms once dubbed “once in a century” would become common, perhaps occurring every year. And it would mean that much of the United States, from Los Angeles to Kansas to the nation’s capital, would feel like an unbearable oven in the summer.”

Among the long-range scientific forecasts cited in the report, significant climate change is expected in key regions in the world.

• Drier conditions are projected for southern Europe, Africa(except some areas in the northeast), large parts of North America and South America, and southern Australia, among others.

• Wetter conditions are projected in particular for the northern high latitudes—that is, northern North America, northern Europe, and Siberia—and in some monsoon regions. Some regions may experience reduced water stress compared to a case without climate change.

• Sub-seasonal and sub-regional changes to the hydrological cycle are associated with severe risks, such as flooding and drought, which may increase significantly even if annual averages change little.