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Earlier this year a book was published outlining two possible scenarios for planet earth – the first paints a picture of the world if we successfully halve carbon emissions in this decade, the second imagines life if we fail to do this.
By 2050, “vast swaths of the planet” will be five to 10 years away from becoming inhospitable to humans, write the authors of The Future We Choose.
But what could this mean for Ireland?
More flooding is probably the "biggest change" Ireland will experience by the 2050s, according to climate scientists at the Irish Centre for High End Computing (ICHEC).
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In the latest climate episode of the In The News podcast, we step into the future and look at what life in Ireland will be like if we continue to ignore the warning signs of the climate crisis.
Presenter Sorcha Pollak speaks to ICHEC scientists, Dr Alastair McKinstry and Dr Enda O'Brien, who specialise in modeling what the climate in Ireland will look like in the coming decades.
They say rainfall will likely increase between 7-8 per cent for every degree of warming.
And those frosty winter mornings we all know so well? Without change, by 2050 they could be a thing of the past, Dr McKinstry told the podcast.
In the News is presented by reporters Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope.
You can listen to the podcast here: