If tensions between Russia and the United States spark an all-out nuclear war between the two rivals, more than five billion people would die from hunger alone, according to a new study in the journal Nature Food.
Scientists at Rutgers University projected the amount of soot that would be thrust into the Earth’s atmosphere in a variety of nuclear war scenarios, from smaller exchanges between India and Pakistan to a full-blown war between Russia and the United States.
A relatively modest Indo-Pakistani war would slash the world’s average caloric output by 7% within the first five years — bigger than any disruption humanity has faced thus far. “Even for a regional nuclear war, large parts of the world may suffer famine,” say the study’s authors.
