I was watching a documentary on TV that talked about how the urgency for reducing our global carbon footprint and its impact on the climate.
I believe that as temperatures rise - to intolerable levels of 40 and 50 degrees Celsius - a huge proportion of our land mass will turn to deserts (as compared to over 20% currently). This implies a significant land shortage, which will becomes even more pronounced as the global population increases. This land shortage doesn't only affect arable land but also inhabitable land i.e. residential housing, retail malls, parks, office spaces, etc. As a result, land and property will start to rise dramatically and render the cost of housing increasingly inaccessible to the mass market. The rich-poor gap widens and home ownership - which once used to be a financially serviceable amenity turns into a luxury product available only to a privileged few who can afford it.