If effects of Global Warming reach the most obvious extremes later this century, and cause the complete extinction of all humans, it will be self-extinction. It will be the result of the ongoing buildup of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to the point where heat will be lethal for all humans no matter where they live, and beyond all hope for air conditioning. Before that would happen, many other earlier effects of Global Warming may greatly affect the global human population, in part due to already rising temperatures, and major occasions with dense poisonous air pollution.

Global Warming effects also include: frequent and enormous fires, violent storms, large droughts, flooding, rising and warming lakes and oceans, and possibly increased earthquakes. Along with these increasing climate effects, we have numerous new country-wide, and world-wide political and military conflicts. All of this has been growing over the last six to eight decades. Clearly, many fires, droughts, storms, and extreme toxic air pollution, are now directly due to Global Warming.

But, along with this, the stability of democratic and non-democratic communities and countries has reached historically high levels of division, confusion, and conflict. And along with all this, we have the terrible, world-wide coronavirus pandemic with its uncertain future, and also the likelihood of other severe medical situations including more different infections, and many more cancers and diseases, to follow. On the political side we also have drives for autocratic rule in many different countries, including the United States under recent President Donald Trump.

In addition: Inequality, increased unemployment, homelessness, starvation, racism, sexism, poverty, drugs, suicides, violence, protests, shootings, and increasing struggles by large numbers of people to migrate to other parts of the world, may continue to add enormously to human misery and dying every day.

Though President Trump frequently said that global warming is a hoax, its current scientific realities are, above all, humanity’s real path to extinction. A rise of 4-5 degrees Celsius (39.2-41 Fahrenheit) would be sufficient to bring a complete end for all humans (Homo sapiens}, as well as many other animals and plants. Currently the earth is now 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above any temperatures in the previous thousands of years. The Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change recommends staying at no higher than 1.5 degrees Celsius. If Earth is kept at no more than 2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius (36.5-37.4 Fahrenheit) it may be possible for some humans to persist, but that won’t be easy. All Human release of current greenhouse gases: CO2, Methane. H2O, NO2, and Ozone, will have to be prevented completely to keep temperatures from rising that much. Vegetation in forests, grasslands and elsewhere remove some CO2 and NO2 from the atmosphere. Complete supplies of electric energy must come from sun, wind, ocean waves, and other sources that don’t release these greenhouse gases.

Energy for cars, trucks, trains, buses, airplanes, air conditioning, and rockets will have to come from energy or fuels that don’t release any greenhouse gases when used or manufactured. All of this must be done before 2040 or 2050. It might be possible to modify current cars, trucks, etc to run only on electricity.

If all does not go well, but still a few humans survive the extinction, these few may be able to find and adapt under semi-arctic conditions, and evolution by natural selection might allow them to start the rise of a new lineage of humans. The same sort of evolutionary adaptation might also work for some surviving plants, and other animals-thus starting a new version of planet Earth for all its children to come. To prevent the self-extinction of the current world population of humans all global warming must be stopped by 2040, and then reversed.