Earth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn

[CharlieH]

 

Humanity faces ‘devastating domino effects’ including mass displacement and financial ruin as planet warms

 

 

Many of the gravest threats to humanity are drawing closer, as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels, scientists have warned.

Five important natural thresholds already risk being crossed, according to the Global Tipping Points report, and three more may be reached in the 2030s if the world heats 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial temperatures.

 

Triggering these planetary shifts will not cause temperatures to spiral out of control in the coming centuries but will unleash dangerous and sweeping damage to people and nature that cannot be undone.

“Tipping points in the Earth system pose threats of a magnitude never faced by humanity,” said Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute. “They can trigger devastating domino effects, including the loss of whole ecosystems and capacity to grow staple crops, with societal impacts including mass displacement, political instability and financial collapse.”

The tipping points at risk include the collapse of big ice sheets in Greenland and the West Antarctic, the widespread thawing of permafrost, the death of coral reefs in warm waters, and the collapse of atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic.

Unlike other changes to the climate such as hotter heatwaves and heavier rainfall, these systems do not slowly shift in line with greenhouse gas emissions but can instead flip from one state to an entirely different one. When a climatic system tips – sometimes with a sudden shock – it may permanently alter the way the planet works.

Scientists warn that there are large uncertainties around when such systems will shift but the report found that three more may soon join the list. These include mangroves and seagrass meadows, which are expected to die off in some regions if the temperatures rise between 1.5C and 2C, and boreal forests, which may tip as early as 1.4C of heating or as late as 5C.

 

FULL STORY

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Nature works on a feedback system, and if a species exceeds it's welcome on the planet it gets culled. Humanity IMO has definitely exceeded it's welcome on planet Earth and if Gaia gets rid of us it'll be our own fault.

 

Excessive overbreeding, destruction of the environment, mad killing of each other, extermination of other species, pollution and general destruction are human specialities.

We know how to live better, but we don't, being ruled by hatred, greed, warmongering and general bad behaviour- why do we deserve to survive?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_flood_narrative

The story of the flood occurs in chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Ten generations after the creation of Adam, God saw that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, and he decided to destroy what he had created.

 

Well, the earth is corrupt and filled with violence again, and we have been warned what happens if we behave badly.

 

When we're gone we won't be mourned by planet Earth, and the planet will get on just fine without us.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, CharlieH said:

the widespread thawing of permafrost,

They don't mention it, but the permafrost apparently holds a lot of methane, and as I understand it if that melts and releases the methane it can lead to methane storms ( when the methane burns- literally the air is on fire ).

[Jack Cook]

More utter nonsense global warming BS. Just buy a ridiculously priced electric car and pay more tax that will fix it.

[charleskerins]

7 minutes ago, Jack Cook said:

More utter nonsense global warming BS. Just buy a ridiculously priced electric car and pay more tax that will fix it.

There's nothing like a person who is never in doubt even when utterly wrong.  It's already happening keep your eyes closed.

[charleskerins]

There are jackasses everywhere  

 

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/the-trump-loving-climate-sceptic-island-sinking-into-the-sea-20211028-p593v2.html

[Trentham]

15 minutes ago, Jack Cook said:

More utter nonsense global warming BS. Just buy a ridiculously priced electric car and pay more tax that will fix it.

You sad, sad creature. I guess you don't believe in vaccines, you believe aeorplane vapor trails are gas being sprayed on us and and and and......

[1FinickyOne]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

When we're gone we won't be mourned by planet Earth,

I never heard of a planet mourning a species... have you?

[sirineou]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

why do we deserve to survive?

That's a good question. 

I don't think we will because our socioeconomic  systems do not reward cooperation. 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

10 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Nature works on a feedback system, and if a species exceeds it's welcome on the planet it gets culled. Humanity IMO has definitely exceeded it's welcome on planet Earth and if Gaia gets rid of us it'll be our own fault.

 

Excessive overbreeding, destruction of the environment, mad killing of each other, extermination of other species, pollution and general destruction are human specialities.

We know how to live better, but we don't, being ruled by hatred, greed, warmongering and general bad behaviour- why do we deserve to survive?

 

Entirely agree. I can't think of any positive effect that humans have had on nature. Quite the opposite. And nothing will prevent our self-destruction as the people who can make a difference - the biggest polluters - have no desire to do so. Money rules. Always has, always will. As an aside, isn't it strange that humans established a monetary system, and millions die each year as they don't have enough of it. Making it another form of self-destruction.
 

Meanwhile, we find anything at all to kill over - religion of course, or drawing a line on a map - something that man alone on the planet recognises - and then threatening to kill anyone who steps over it. John Lennon imagined it right.

[placeholder]

2 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

I never heard of a planet mourning a species... have you?

It's clear that you've also never heard of a figure of speech.

[1FinickyOne]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

It's clear that you've also never heard of a figure of speech.

oh. You mean a figger of speech?

[Surasak]

3 hours ago, Trentham said:

You sad, sad creature. I guess you don't believe in vaccines, you believe aeorplane vapor trails are gas being sprayed on us and and and and......

All that could be true, but hey, keep an open mind!

[GreasyFingers]

Don't listen to the weather report, just go outside and look for yourself.

[superal]

The world is over populated with humans. The effects of climate change are evident every year. Deforestation is not helping and we are already at the point of no return .Global population control is needed in order to maintain a sustainable planet 

[rwill]

If you check out earths history there have been several mass extinctions in the past.  Mostly caused by climate change.  Way before humans were here.

 

Out biggest folly is thinking we can do something about it.

[parallelman]

At low altitudes water H₂O (vapour) is by far the biggest GH gas threat and at those levels the H₂O molecules considerably outnumber CO₂ molecules. However, as we all know,  H₂O readily condenses forming clouds and rain but CO₂ does not. Earth's gravity prevents CO₂ escaping into space and so the 'blanket' gets thicker but it's the lower layer of CO₂ that absorbs most of the energy. The higher layers simply keep the energy for longer and that is the problem. The current CO₂ level is about 0.04% (trivia-Venus is the hottest planet in the SS but its atmosphere is around 99% CO₂ ) CH₄, N₂O and O₃ are GH gasses to a lesser extent. As well as agricultural products humans and other animals (cattle for example) produce CH₄.

Wind Farms, Solar Panel areas aren't supplying and cannot supply right now, the demand for electricity and fusion reactors, it seems, won't be near supplying the grid anytime soon.

So we've gotten ourselves into a bit of a rut. Well, what can we do? We could ALL stop using our combustion vehicles, stop using aircraft for holiday trips, stop using...That is just not going to happen! We have to face that our 'needs' have outrun progress in technology-for example the weight of the batteries in EV's is roughly 40% (give or take a little) of the total. The batteries will become smaller as research continues but it isn't going to happen overnight.

The dinosaurs were eating their way to being doomed, the asteroid/comet strike just made it sooner...is it now our turn? I think we are intelligent enough to avoid it.

Of course it might be just one big conspiracy to make us all bow down...everyone has to decide for themselves.

 

[novacova]

16 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The story of the flood occurs in chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Ten generations after the creation of Adam, God saw that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, and he decided to destroy what he had created.

There is also a story in that book that describes humans killing each other off at the end of its civilization, we’re more likely to hit that mark way before we pollute ourselves to that demise.  

[Isaan sailor]

I wonder what China (the world’s biggest polluter) plans to do about this…

[novacova]

7 hours ago, charleskerins said:

There's nothing like a person who is never in doubt even when utterly wrong.  It's already happening keep your eyes closed.

You are wrong about what I believe is true. I’m wrong about what you believe is true. There, problem solved and nothing left to argue about.

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, superal said:

The world is over populated with humans. The effects of climate change are evident every year. Deforestation is not helping and we are already at the point of no return .Global population control is needed in order to maintain a sustainable planet 

 

All this has been debated since the 1980s. But deforestation got worse and worse, and China, and India constructing coal power plants at record pace...

[placeholder]

3 hours ago, rwill said:

If you check out earths history there have been several mass extinctions in the past.  Mostly caused by climate change.  Way before humans were here.

 

Out biggest folly is thinking we can do something about it.

Well, actually, in 3 out of the 5 cases, mostly cause by either massive volcanic activity, and in one case augmented by an asteroid strike. Those kind of events do tend to affect the climate. In the other 2 cases one was a major geological event and in the other apparently, the colonization of land by plants. So in all cases the climate was affected but not the ultimate cause.

https://ourworldindata.org/mass-extinctions

Now if the current situation were cause by a massive increase in volcanic activity or some major geological event or some new kind of carbon dioxide eating order of organisms, you'd have a better point.

 

[placeholder]

2 hours ago, novacova said:

You are wrong about what I believe is true. I’m wrong about what you believe is true. There, problem solved and nothing left to argue about.

All that's left for you to disagree with is the science.

[nobodysfriend]

The history of mankind is written with blood .

The main motivators for the human race have always been ( and still are ) fear and greed .

That was an ok strategy to survive in the way Darwin meant it in his theory of evolution .

But overpopulation changed this .

Greed and fear , both lead to environmental destruction in an overpopulated world .

For the first time in history , mankind now has the technological means to avoid the worst of climate change , ( and that that is real is a proven fact ) .

But what does the dominant species on this planet do ...? The opposite of what needs to be done now .

Even knowing the facts , we produce more and more pollution every year .

Mankind will not stop this , because mankind is a herd of sheeple manipulated by the greed of the big earners , companies who realized how to make their money on the back of non reactive people . We are told by them what is good for us , even if , in the long run ( gets shorter every day ) , it is the opposite .

Their greed to make money is bigger than everything else .

All this is well known and , really , no need to talk about this any more ...

Fact is , that this , our way of life , has a very limited lifespan left by now .

A lot of damage is irreversibly done already , we have to live with the consequences .

But , by continuing or species destructive path , there will only be a dystopian future left for mankind and the planet .

( the planet's biosphere will heal itself within a few thousand years , once mankind disappeared , but mankind , the homo sapiens , will become history , a failed species .

All that was taught to us by scientists a long time ago already , but the homo sapiens is not a species able to overcome their basic instincts of fear and greed , even if it leads straight to it's own destruction .

All that could have been avoided if people would realize that it is the planet's once balanced biosphere that enabled our species evolution ( to an ignorant bunch of Lemmings , it appears ) .

What a pity and waste .

We have the technology needed , many people realize that this path we are going , leads to our demise , but still , it does not seem possible to change that , because irresponsible capitalism and greed reigns .

 

[charleskerins]

13 hours ago, rwill said:

If you check out earths history there have been several mass extinctions in the past.  Mostly caused by climate change.  Way before humans were here.

 

Out biggest folly is thinking we can do something about it.

The folly is thinking we can't when we can but refuse .

[BritManToo]

We all need to conserve fuel in order to save the planet,

So I'm off to Dubai in my private jet, along with a 100 or so pals all flying in their private jets to discuss how we can force the plebs into saving fuel.

[charleskerins]

6 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

The history of mankind is written with blood .

The main motivators for the human race have always been ( and still are ) fear and greed .

That was an ok strategy to survive in the way Darwin meant it in his theory of evolution .

But overpopulation changed this .

Greed and fear , both lead to environmental destruction in an overpopulated world .

For the first time in history , mankind now has the technological means to avoid the worst of climate change , ( and that that is real is a proven fact ) .

But what does the dominant species on this planet do ...? The opposite of what needs to be done now .

Even knowing the facts , we produce more and more pollution every year .

Mankind will not stop this , because mankind is a herd of sheeple manipulated by the greed of the big earners , companies who realized how to make their money on the back of non reactive people . We are told by them what is good for us , even if , in the long run ( gets shorter every day ) , it is the opposite .

Their greed to make money is bigger than everything else .

All this is well known and , really , no need to talk about this any more ...

Fact is , that this , our way of life , has a very limited lifespan left by now .

A lot of damage is irreversibly done already , we have to live with the consequences .

But , by continuing or species destructive path , there will only be a dystopian future left for mankind and the planet .

( the planet's biosphere will heal itself within a few thousand years , once mankind disappeared , but mankind , the homo sapiens , will become history , a failed species .

All that was taught to us by scientists a long time ago already , but the homo sapiens is not a species able to overcome their basic instincts of fear and greed , even if it leads straight to it's own destruction .

All that could have been avoided if people would realize that it is the planet's once balanced biosphere that enabled our species evolution ( to an ignorant bunch of Lemmings , it appears ) .

What a pity and waste .

We have the technology needed , many people realize that this path we are going , leads to our demise , but still , it does not seem possible to change that , because irresponsible capitalism and greed reigns .

 

Very true

[charleskerins]

Just now, BritManToo said:

We all need to conserve fuel in order to save the planet,

So I'm off to Dubai in my private jet, along with a 100 or so pals all flying in their private jets to discuss how we can force the plebs into saving fuel.

Sure that's the spirit blind indifference.

[charleskerins]

12 hours ago, parallelman said:

At low altitudes water H₂O (vapour) is by far the biggest GH gas threat and at those levels the H₂O molecules considerably outnumber CO₂ molecules. However, as we all know,  H₂O readily condenses forming clouds and rain but CO₂ does not. Earth's gravity prevents CO₂ escaping into space and so the 'blanket' gets thicker but it's the lower layer of CO₂ that absorbs most of the energy. The higher layers simply keep the energy for longer and that is the problem. The current CO₂ level is about 0.04% (trivia-Venus is the hottest planet in the SS but its atmosphere is around 99% CO₂ ) CH₄, N₂O and O₃ are GH gasses to a lesser extent. As well as agricultural products humans and other animals (cattle for example) produce CH₄.

Wind Farms, Solar Panel areas aren't supplying and cannot supply right now, the demand for electricity and fusion reactors, it seems, won't be near supplying the grid anytime soon.

So we've gotten ourselves into a bit of a rut. Well, what can we do? We could ALL stop using our combustion vehicles, stop using aircraft for holiday trips, stop using...That is just not going to happen! We have to face that our 'needs' have outrun progress in technology-for example the weight of the batteries in EV's is roughly 40% (give or take a little) of the total. The batteries will become smaller as research continues but it isn't going to happen overnight.

The dinosaurs were eating their way to being doomed, the asteroid/comet strike just made it sooner...is it now our turn? I think we are intelligent enough to avoid it.

Of course it might be just one big conspiracy to make us all bow down...everyone has to decide for themselves.

 

I''ll go with the scientists.

[BritManToo]

Just now, charleskerins said:

Sure that's the spirit blind indifference.

my home is 80% solar powered, and I use less than 50 units from the grid each month.

Not sure there's much more I could do, how about you?