---
title: "If You’re Under 40 You’re Gonna See Some Horrible Stuff, Scientists Say"
description: "Alarming new research suggests that each generation will face a more climate change-ravaged planet than the one before it."
date: "2021-09-28"
modified: "2021-09-28"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/under-40-see-horrible-stuff-scientists"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "environment"
  - "the digest"
---

# If You’re Under 40 You’re Gonna See Some Horrible Stuff, Scientists Say

![Alarming new research suggests that each generation will face a more climate change-ravaged planet than the one before it.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/worldonfire.png>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://unsplash.com/@fourcolourblack%20%20" target="\_blank"\>Adam Wilson\</a\>\</em\>*

## Lost Generation

Children born this year are going to live their lives on a drastically different planet than any generations that came before them.

Thanks to the largely unmitigated progression of global climate change, upcoming generations will be forced to endure several times more ecological disasters and dangerous bouts of extreme weather, [according to research](<https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi7339?_ga=2.140428851.1086394533.1632749462-1575527405.1631121912>) published in the journal *Science* on Sunday. It's an alarming prognosis that should underscore the importance of taking urgent, significant steps to keep climate change in check.

## Damage Done

Unfortunately, lead study author and Vrije Universitiet climate scientist Wim Thiery [told *NBC News*](<https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/triple-jeopardy-children-face-dark-future-climate-disasters-rcna2304>) that in some ways, the damage has [already been done](<https://futurism.com/climate-change-caused-humans>), and each generation will face a more climate-ravaged planet than the one before it.

"We found that everyone under 40 today will live an unprecedented life in terms of their lifetime exposure to heat waves, droughts and floods," Thiery told *NBC*. "This is true even under the most conservative scenarios."

Specifically, Thiery and his colleagues found that kids born this year will face seven times more heat waves, twice as many wildfires, and about three times as many droughts as their grandparents. But, Thiery told *NBC*, droughts and heat waves may [continue to grow more extreme](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/united-nations-code-red-humanity-climate>), making the problem even worse than their research suggests.

## Unequal Burden

Just like with the impacts of climate change that we're [already facing today](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-time-un-warns-climate-related-refugees>), the researchers predict that developing nations will bear the brunt of the burden and that their wealthier neighbors will be able to avoid some of the worst changes.

But there's time to stave off some of the worst impacts of climate change, Thiery noted, if countries around the world make severe cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions in the near future.

"This should be a call for action," Thiery told *NBC*. "We have it in our hands to avoid the worst of global warming. For all of us alive today, we need to combat climate change."

**READ MORE:** [Triple jeopardy: Children face dark future of climate disasters](<https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/triple-jeopardy-children-face-dark-future-climate-disasters-rcna2304>) \[*NBC News*\]

**More on climate change:** *[The Climate Projection for 500 Years From Now Is Unbelievably Bad](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/climate-projection-500-years>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)