Ben See Profile picture
Oct 15, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Economic growth is locking in

1. unsurvivable deforestation
2. >1.7°C global warming hell
3. chemical pollution threatening mammal fertility
4. extinction of 25%-75% of species

Media: more growth!
Governments: more growth!
IPCC: more growth!
UN: more growth!

6 million species:
1. There is an alternative: a postgrowth global economy which respects species and ecosystems that secures decolonization and decarbonization with immediate emergency degrowth action in rich countries for the benefit (and survival) of the many not the few.
2. Deforestation must end in the next few years for any hope of a chance of avoiding the near-term collapse of rainforests. This would be possible with international cooperation, but won't happen with the current economic system.

A second thread here:
3. 'multiple lines of evidence showing it will be virtually impossible to keep average global temperature rise to 1.5℃ or below this century, without...'
theconversation.com/failure-is-not…
but degrowth could still give a chance of avoiding or delaying 1.5C:
boell.de/en/2020/12/09/…
4. Chemicals in plastics causing fertility decline & threat of thermal infertility at >2°C. Thread:

5. 'a global climate mitigation scenario that explores the climate effects of limiting global production and consumptions and of envisioning a broader societal transformation to accompany these transformations to reach a good life for all.'

boell.de/en/2020/12/09/…

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More from @ClimateBen

Aug 9
Destruction of habitats and wildlife has intensified and accelerated to an almost unimaginable degree during the capitalist era. Scientists say the 40-50% of plant species now facing extinction will be obliterated in a handful of decades. It didn't have to be like this. Rethink. Plants are going extinct up to 350 times faster than the historical norm
1. Capitalism: a 'meteorite'

'previous mass extinctions.. took 10,000s, 100,000s, even millions of years to happen. this is happening so fast, now in just two, three decades..'
google.com/amp/s/www.cbsn…

Recovery: "we most likely won’t be there to see it"..
discovermagazine.com/earth-is-on-th…
2. Current estimates of plant extinctions are, without a doubt, gross underestimates. Extinctions will surpass background rates by 1000s of times over the next 80 years. universityofcalifornia.edu/news/plants-ar…
Read 8 tweets
Aug 7
BREAKING: as tropical forests show increasingly clear signs they are entering a collapse phase scientists warn irreversible mass extinction conditions are on the horizon 🧵
1. rapid warming & collapse

".. warming could continue to accelerate.. even if we reach zero human emissions. We will have fundamentally changed the carbon cycle in a way that can take geological timescales to recover, which has happened in Earth’s past.”scitechdaily.com/mass-extinctio…
2. “There will be a point in the not too distant future when we suddenly see and feel this mass extinction all around us very clearly”

“A key point of extinction crises is that life has always recovered.. However..we most likely won’t be there to see it."
Read 5 tweets
Jul 23
icymi: our coastal cities will be smashed by multi-metre sea level rise within decades Peak global mean temperature, atmospheric CO2, maximum global mean sea level (GMSL), and source(s) of meltwater.  Light blue shading indicates uncertainty of GMSL maximum. Red pie charts over Greenland and Antarctica denote fraction (not location) of ice retreat.
The Greenland ice sheet is now losing around 9 billion litres of ice an hour [Geological Survey of Denmark &Greenland]

With the ice sheet at “a tipping point of irreversible melting”, scientists currently expect an unavoidable sea level rise of 1-2 metres.weforum.org/stories/2025/0…
4 to 10 m sea level rise committed in the coming 2000 years, with the majoroty of that in the coming decades/centuries it would appear.
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

x.com/climate_ice/st…
Read 4 tweets
Jul 21
BREAKING: horrific worst-case scenarios firmly back on the table as scientists confirm large-scale Earth systems such as forests, ice sheets, and ocean currents may already be collapsing 🧵
'large-scale Earth systems may be experiencing gradual collapses that are easy to miss, with profound implications

"we may already be crossing tipping points without realizing"

Slow changes can be deceptive

some systems may slide into collapse silently'
phys.org/news/2025-07-e…
Read 5 tweets
Jul 19
BREAKING: as global warming accelerates wildly normally reticent Establishment scientists begin to discuss plausibility of near-term human extinction 🧵
1/'It seems very unlikely that extinction is on the table for any but the most severe scenarios of climate negligence. However, it is easy to envision a collapse of human civilization.'

What Dr Mann won't say: new papers show 3.5-5°C is entirely likely. gizmodo.com/is-climate-cha…
2/We know relatively low levels of warming like 2 or 2.5°C (which are in fact absolutely extreme given the rapid rate of change) could mean human extinction. Dr Mann would agree 2.25-3.25°C is likely/very likely to hit in a few/handful of decades.

Thread:
Read 6 tweets
Jul 19
BREAKING: climate scientists say it's now easy to envision a collapse of human civilization 🧵
1. it is easy to envision a collapse of human civilization:

'Without even appealing to the uncertain science of climate tipping points, the known impacts of climate change.. would be more than adequate to destabilize our societal infrastructure.'
gizmodo.com/is-climate-cha…
2. Climate scientists project 2°C and rising by the 2030s/40s, with 2.5°C or more by the 2040s/50s or soon after. There is no evidence whatsoever humans can survive that rate of change and the abrupt shift to extreme new conditions.

2-4°C is very likely.
Read 6 tweets

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