Numerous examples of sultry periods in geological history can serve as a hint.
Optimistic scenario
Let’s start with a more optimistic scenario.
If we sharply stop the prey of fossil fuel, the climate will gradually acquire similarity to the periods of warming. They alternated with glaciers for two million years. The last interglacial period began 130,000 years ago and lasted from 13,000 to 15,000 years. The average environmental temperature was then slightly higher than the one we have today. The bulk of the ice in Greenland and Antarctica remained untouched, but the part still melted, thereby causing a rise in water level in the seas by about 6 meters. The strongest rains spilled on the sugar, while Southeast America suffered from drought.
Animal and bird behavior
For many species of animals and birds, such climate changes turned out to be a problem; The whole ecosystems had to migrate, focusing on magnetic fields in order to adapt to life. White bears probably survived only thanks to the ice burgers in the extreme Arctic. Warm oak and eucalyptus forests from the south of the Appalachi moved to the suburbs in the north of New York, and typically African animals, such as elephants and hippos, went through Europe in the same direction.
Unfortunately, now on the ways of possible future migrations there are cities, roads and other obstacles, and an excess of carbon dioxide is dissolved in the ocean, which will not allow mollusks to move to another place, because the acidity of sea waters is growing rapidly. Moreover, the gases produced by mankind create a greenhouse effect, which at best will retain heat much stronger and longer, about 100,000 years.
Even such an optimistic forecast implies great difficulties, but the history of our planet proves its inevitability. If, over the next one or two centuries, humanity uses all the remaining combustible fossils, much more serious consequences are possible, the planet will turn into a greenhouse for a long time. A similar disaster occurred about 56 million years ago and received the name of the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum.
Unlike relatively soft interglacial warming, which occurred due to the inclination, fluctuations and orbit of the Earth, the PTM changed the planet out of recognition. Whatever the cause of PTM, it provoked the release of trillion tons of carbon dioxide into the air and oceans. The average temperature on land rose more than 10 degrees, washing from the face of the earth of coldloving inhabitants. The concentration of carbon dioxide was several times higher than today, and, coupled with warming and accumulating in ocean waters, this led to the destruction of many marine organisms and dissolution of limestone deposits at the bottom of the ocean.
Oceans and Antarctica
The North Arctic Ocean turned into a desalinated bay with slightly warm water, surrounded by a deciduous forest. Antarctica was covered with beech trees, and the coast was overgrown with constant heavy rains.
If this is repeated, and all the ice on the planet melts, the level of world waters will rise up 60 meters.
