The World Bank warned Sunday that if climate change isn't
stopped or slowed down, the global economy will suffer greatly.
The report, titled "Turn Down the Heat," envisions a world that
is warmer by an average of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees
Fahrenheit). According to Jim Yong Kim, president of the World
Bank, the report is meant to "shock [the world] into action." "A
4 degree Celsius world is so different from the current one that
it comes with high uncertainty and new risks that threaten our
ability to anticipate and plan for future adaptation needs," he
writes. A global temperature increase like one estimated by the
World Bank would lead to "the inundation of coastal cities;
increasing risks for food production, potentially leading to
higher malnutrition rates; many dry regions becoming dryer, wet
regions wetter; unprecedented heat waves in many regions," water
scarcity, and more natural disasters. The organization chose to
analyze a four-degree increase because that's the worst-case
scenario envisioned b