fat-lobyte t1_iui7hdn wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:03 PM

For many reasons.

First of all, 1.5°C spread out over the entire atmosphere means that there is significantly more energy inside the atmosphere. This manifests as extreme weather such as storms, floods and hurricanes.

Second, this increase in temperature increases the amount of polar ice that melts, which increases the sea levels, which can lead to more flooding or the disappearance of entire regions or island nations.

Third, some ecosystems are very very sensitive to temperature changes, because they have evolved under a certain temperature for a long time.

slide_into_my_BM t1_iuib1is wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:27 PM

Just to add to this, it’s normal for the polar ice caps or glaciers to go through melting and freezing phases. A slight increase in temperature means the melting is longer and the re-freezing is shorter so the balance is thrown off and hence the melting ice caps or disappearing glaciers