Now it's winter wildfires in the US. How far do things have to go before governments recognise that crucial Earth systems might be reaching their tipping points? If so, we need to respond not with slow and steady carbon reduction plans, but with sudden and drastic action.
Otherwise, it's like announcing a plan, after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, to bail out the banks by 2050.
I'm going to keep saying this until it lodges:
If Earth systems are approaching their tipping points, current plans are far too little, far too late.
I'm going to keep saying this until it lodges:
If Earth systems are approaching their tipping points, current plans are far too little, far too late.
It's really hard to imagine what crossing a major Earth system threshold (a tipping point) would look like. But:
1. It will be orders of magnitude worse than anything we have ever experienced.
2. If one system tips, it could trigger a chain reaction, tipping other systems.
1. It will be orders of magnitude worse than anything we have ever experienced.
2. If one system tips, it could trigger a chain reaction, tipping other systems.
3. There's a term for such chain reactions: Mass Extinction Events.
4. If a system tips, there's no going back. This is because of a property of complex systems called hysteresis. More energy is required to push a system back into its prior state than was required to tip it.
4. If a system tips, there's no going back. This is because of a property of complex systems called hysteresis. More energy is required to push a system back into its prior state than was required to tip it.
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