Climate change's small but significant consequences

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry was accused of lacking a "fundamental understanding" of science this week after he said climate change was not primarily caused by mankind.

In a letter quoted by the New York Daily News, the American Society of Meteorologists told the politician it was "critically important" that he understood that emissions of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases were "the primary cause".

It added: "This is a conclusion based on the comprehensive assessment of scientific evidence. It is based on multiple independent lines of evidence that have been affirmed by thousands of independent scientists and numerous scientific institutions around the world."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Scientists say climate change could displace hundreds of millions of people by 2050 through increased droughts, floods and hurricanes. In addition, the cost of redressing climate problems could reach £550bn globally each year by 2030, reports Business Insider.

Alongside these apocalyptic predictions, smaller effects are expected - and, in some cases, are already being felt.

Here are five unexpected results of global warming.

Coffee prices will rise

A report from scientists from Kew Gardens in London this week warned rising temperatures mean coffee will become more expensive and less tasty over the next 100 years unless action is taken.

In the short term, Brazil's worst drought in recorded history means stock levels are low in Brazil and further bad weather could mean a bean shortage, says the BBC.

But the longer term is more worrying. By the end of this century, coffee-growing areas in Ethiopia, where the bean is thought to have first been farmed, are on course to shrink by 60 per cent, says the Kew team.

Days to be milliseconds shorter

Melting glaciers in Greenland are having an effect on the speed at which the Earth spins, according to the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

The changed distribution of water on the planet's surface affects the speed of rotation in much the way a figure skater slows up or speeds down a pirouette by moving their arms in or out, New Scientist reported.

The change is infinitesimal, however. By 2200, a day will be 0.12 milliseconds shorter than it was in 2007 at the current rate of warming. In comparison, the Moon's pull on the Earth's oceans is shortening our days by 2.3 milliseconds every 100 years.

Spring starting earlier

Spring in the UK starts about two weeks earlier than it did 50 years ago, while autumn starts one week later, says New Scientist.

Nor can gardeners ignore climate change, reports the BBC. A study from the Royal Horticultural Society says challenges range from increased flooding from severe rain – it suggests designing flowerbeds that can cope – to a lack of water at other times to maintain lawns, leading to an increase in the use of artificial grass.

Hay fever to worsen

According to a 2012 study by Rutgers University in New Jersey, the average pollen count in the US will more than double by 2040, with longer growing seasons, caused by warmer temperatures, meaning mean more allergenic pollen is released by plants such as ragweed.

Hay fever season is predicted to change time as well. Pollen levels in the US peaked near the beginning of May in the early 2000s, but the Rutgers team forecast that will move to 8 April in the year 2040, Public Radio International says.

Solar boom in north Africa

Temperature increases could be disastrous in some places but offer a bright economic future in others. Morocco, which has abundant sunlight, opened a vast solar power plant in 2015, the BBC reports. It should help the country generate 42 per cent of its power needs from renewables by 2020.

Engineer Paddy Padmanathan, who helped build the plant, said that instead of importing its electric power from Spain, Morocco could become a net exporter. He said: "If Morocco is able to generate electricity at seven, eight cents per kilowatt – very possible – it will have thousands of megawatts excess.

"It's obvious this country should be able to export into Europe and it will. And it will not need to do anything at all… [All] it needs to do is just sit there because Europe will start to need it."