IT MADE for disturbing reading when we asked scientists to speculate on what the world would be like if the global average temperature rose by 4聽掳C. They were happy to oblige, and the results formed the basis of the cover story for our 28 February issue. Now climate scientists have firmed up their speculations with modelling studies, and their conclusions are, if anything, more worrying (see 鈥淣o rainforest, no monsoon: get ready for a warmer world鈥�). A 4聽掳C rise would be a disaster.
It is not hard to imagine that if we fail to get a grip on the climate, civilisation will collapse altogether. So we asked another question: if we consume ourselves back to the Stone Age, what happens next? Would Earth recover? The answers paint a strangely comforting picture of our planet鈥檚 future (see 鈥淧ost-human Earth: How the planet will recover from us鈥�) 鈥� but they don鈥檛 leave a lot of room for us or our descendants.