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© cc-photo: Frank Busch
The climate crisis may have already reached five tipping points that will unleash unprecedented impacts with potentially even more catastrophic consequences. Scientists who have researched the possibility of such events are sounding the alarm. If the goals of the Paris climate agreement are not achieved, things will go seriously wrong.
Global warming of 1.1 degrees Celsius, which is already happening, may have already started a number of processes that have reached the point of irreversibility. Those five tipping points include the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, resulting in a sharp rise in sea level. The collapse of a major main stream in the North Atlantic, disrupting the rainfall that billions of people depend on for their food supply. The accelerated melting of the permafrost, which releases greenhouse gas.
If the Earth warms by 1.5 degrees, the probability of reaching such tipping points changes from possible to probable. The scientists emphasize that they do not want to claim that all is lost. But the more efforts that are made now to save the climate, the lesser the damage later on.
The scientists have identified many more possible tipping points, which become more likely as temperatures rise. At some of the tipping points the effects are spread out over very long periods, at others major changes occur within a few years. Many such tipping points also influence each other and are likely to reinforce each other, causing a kind of domino effect.
One of the researchers states: “Our new work provides compelling evidence that the world needs to radically accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions. To do that, we need to initiate positive social tipping points.”
The Guardian reports on the disturbing research published in the authoritative journal Science.