Carbon Pollution Heats Planet To More Dangerous Levels, Scientists Warn

Scientists warned that the carbon pollution has already heated the planet to more dangerous levels. This as earth is already on the verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points.

(Photo : Getty Images/Henry Nicholls )

Small Changes With Drastic Effects

Researchers explained that tipping points are small changes that can bring about drastic effects and they warned that such changes will result in abrupt and irreversible impacts on the planet.

The Global Tipping Points explained that the triggering would severely damage the planet's life-support systems and threaten the stability of our societies.

For example, the collapse of the Atlantic Ocean's great overturning circulation combined with global warming could cause half of the global area for growing wheat and maize to be lost.

Experts noted that the five major tipping points are already at risk of being crossed due to warming right now and three more are threatened in the 2030s as the world exceeds 1.5°C global warming.

The full damage caused by negative tipping points will be far greater than their initial impact.

The effects will even cascade through globalized social and economic systems, and could exceed the ability of some countries to adapt.

Researchers explained that negative tipping points would show that the threat posed by the climate and ecological crisis is far more severe than is commonly understood and is of a magnitude never before faced by humanity.

At present, there is no adequate global governance at the scale of the threats posed by negative tipping points, with studies pointing out that the world is on a disastrous trajectory.

Crossing one harmful tipping point could trigger others, causing a domino effect of accelerating and unmanageable change to our life-support systems.

Preventing this - and doing so equitably - should become the core goal and logic of a new global governance framework. Experts explained that prevention is only possible if societies and economic systems are transformed to rapidly reduce emissions and restore nature.

Studies said that the existence of tipping points means that "business as usual" is now over.

Rapid changes to nature and society are occurring, and more are coming.

If people do not alter the governance approach, these changes could overwhelm societies as the natural world rapidly comes apart.

The current approach of linear incremental change favored by many decision makers is no longer an option.

The existing governance institutions and decision-making approaches need to adapt to facilitate transformational change.

What Is A Tipping Point

Scientists explained that a tipping point is a type of threshold.

They noted that the small change that causes a system to pass a tipping point can be described as a trigger.

The resulting large change can be described as a qualitative change in what a system looks like or how it functions - for example from a Greenland ice sheet to a largely ice-free "green" Greenland, or from an economy powered by fossil fuels to one powered by renewable energy.

The change associated with passing a tipping point also commonly includes qualities of: abruptness (change is rapid relative to the drivers forcing it); self-perpetuation (change will continue even if the forcing is removed, until a new state is reached); and irreversibility (change is difficult or impossible to reverse).