There's just something about the heat that puts people on the edge. And according to a study by researcher Matthew Ranson, the effects of global warming could lead to a spike in crime.



Ronson discovered this after matching up historical crime rates and weather data. Between 2010 and 2099, we might see 22,000 additional murders, 180,000 more cases of rape, 1.2 million aggravated assaults, 2.3 million simple assaults, 260,000 robberies, and 1.3 million burglaries.

And if these keeps up, the effect could be alarming. Aside from the damage to people's lives, the heightened crime rates would also have an economic cost. Based on the temperature forecast for 2099, this could mean anywhere between $38 billion to $115 billion! If that isn't a good enough reason to start taking climate change more seriously, we don't know what is!

[Co.Exist]