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USA Today: The world inches closer to feared global warming 'tipping points': 5 disastrous scenarios
The world inches closer to feared global warming 'tipping points': 5 disastrous scenariosElizabeth Weise
USA TODAY
Climate change effects usually become clear over decades and centuries, but they seem to be everywhere this summer: temperature records broken constantly, ocean waters as warm as hot tubs and world leaders so alarmed they've called this the "the era of global boiling."
And as concerning as these developments are, scientists have long worried about even more dramatic, looming and irreversible changes to the planet that could happen quickly. Even in the past year, there's evidence some of these scenarios are becoming more likely.
A paper in the journal Science in 2022 looked at several climate "tipping points" – conditions beyond which changes become self-perpetuating and difficult or impossible to undo. While the concept raised the hackles of some scientists, who suggested it was overly simplistic, the paper suggested even the possibility of such no-going-back points provided compelling reasons to limit warming as much as possible.
About a year later, several global systems that scientists have been concerned about are showing signs of becoming increasingly fragile.
…
USA TODAY
Climate change effects usually become clear over decades and centuries, but they seem to be everywhere this summer: temperature records broken constantly, ocean waters as warm as hot tubs and world leaders so alarmed they've called this the "the era of global boiling."
And as concerning as these developments are, scientists have long worried about even more dramatic, looming and irreversible changes to the planet that could happen quickly. Even in the past year, there's evidence some of these scenarios are becoming more likely.
A paper in the journal Science in 2022 looked at several climate "tipping points" – conditions beyond which changes become self-perpetuating and difficult or impossible to undo. While the concept raised the hackles of some scientists, who suggested it was overly simplistic, the paper suggested even the possibility of such no-going-back points provided compelling reasons to limit warming as much as possible.
About a year later, several global systems that scientists have been concerned about are showing signs of becoming increasingly fragile.
…
