The hottest year in the world's recorded weather history was 1995. The planet is warming at a faster rate than at any time in the last ten thousand years. Island nations and low-lying coastal regions everywhere might disappear under rising seas. These ecological shifts would trigger outbreaks of infectious diseases, as they have already begun to do. As if this weren't enough, warming leads to more warming.
Droughts can lead to wildfires that burn vast areas of forest.
The fires will not only add to carbon dioxide emissions but also remove vegetation which absorbs carbon dioxide. The book is peppered with examples. Mosquitoes that used to survive only up to 1,000 feet are spreading malaria and yellow fever at 2,000 feet. In 1994, floods that normally last for two to three days in Bangladesh, lasted for two weeks and affected nearly ten million people. The same year, Great Britain had its hottest summer since 1659 and its driest summer since 1721.