Posted on 5 August 2023 by John Hartz

Story of the Week

The world inches closer to feared global warming 'tipping points': 5 disastrous scenarios

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.

Antarctic sea ice is at a record low, fires in Canada are reshaping terrain and polluting the air and record ocean temperatures are threatening coral. There's even new research published in July that suggests critical Atlantic Ocean currents could collapse sooner than expected, which could trigger rapid weather and climate changes.

But the news isn't all bad: There's some good news in the Amazon. And scientists continue to say that if humanity takes climate threats seriously and quickly moves to end carbon emissions, the scenarios below become less likely or at least less extreme.

Here are five tipping points scientists say could start to teeter sooner rather than later: 

Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on the USA Today website.

The world inches closer to feared global warming 'tipping points': 5 disastrous scenarios by Elizabeth Weise, Nation, USA Today, Aug 5, 2023

Articles posted on Facebook

Sunday, July 30, 2023

• What frightens me about the climate crisis is we don’t know how bad things really are As the barrage of bad news from places like Greece continues, all we can be certain of is there are many surprises lying ahead, Opinion by Roger Harriban, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Sep 24, 2023
• Sudden explosion of dangerous fungus Candida auris may be because of climate change, scientists say by AP, CBS, July 28, 2023
• Radical ways to fix the Earth: are they magic bullets or just band-aids? Technologies like geoengineering may tackle global warming – but first we need to ditch fossil fuels for renewable energy, Opinion by Robin McKie, Comment is Free, The Observer/Guardian, Observer/Guardian, July 30, 2023
• Climate Myths sorted by taxonomy by SkS Team, Skeptical Science, Not Dated
• Climate change: as the Titan disaster shows, there’s no ignoring basic science, Opinion by Martin Williams, South China Morning Post, July 30, 2023

Monday, July 31, 2023

• ‘Something weird is going on’: search for answers as Antarctic sea ice stays at historic lows Some scientists fear the ‘shocking’ shift is the beginning of a global heating-linked collapse of the ice that could have alarming knock-on effects by Graham Readfearn, World, The Guardian, July 28, 2023
• G20 climate talks fail to deliver emission cuts despite leadership pleas Cop28 president, Sultan Al Jaber and UN climate change boss, Simon Stiell, had called on G20 countries to show leadership and deliver ambitious emissions cuts. by Matteo Civillini, Reuters/Climate Home News, July 28, 2023
• Don't overstate 1.5 degrees C threat, new IPCC head says Don't overstate 1.5 degrees C threat, new IPCC head says by AFP, Deutsche Welle (DW), July 30, 2023
• Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2023 by Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack, Skeptical Science, July 27, 2023

Tuesday, Aug 1, 2023

• Earth needs a world climate crisis organisation, says eminent scientist Such a body, which could be established through the UN, would help facilitate a united global effort against climate change. by Danny Halpin, Climate, The Independent (UK), July 28, 2023
• On the Coast of Greenland, Early Arctic Spring Has Been Replaced by Seasonal Extremes, New Research Shows In assembling data over 25 years, scientists found plants and animals reaching the limits of their ability to respond to climate variability. by Lydia Larsen, Science, Inside Climate News, July 26, 2023
• At a glance - Explaining how the water vapor greenhouse effect works by John Mason & Baerbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Aug 1, 2023
• Summer of extreme heat rages on with more record-breaking temperatures possible by Jennifer Gray, Weather, CNN, July 31, 2023

Wednesday, Aug 2, 2023

• State of the climate: 2023 now likely hottest year on record after extreme summer The first half of 2023 has been extremely warm worldwide as a developing El Niño event on top of human-caused climate change helped drive temperatures into record-breaking territories. by Zeke Hausfather,  Carbon Brief, July 26, 2023
• Miami is Used to Heat, but Not Like This The county’s chief heat officer—the first in the world—strives to raise awareness about the dangers of heat, the leading weather-related killer in the U.S. by Amy Green, Politics & Policy, Inside Climate News, Aug 1, 2023

• Polluters Rely on Old Rhetoric to Block Clean Energy Future For 60 years, corporate polluters and their political allies have sought to slow and derail anti-pollution laws, often using the exact same arguments and wording. Today’s pushback against EPA proposals to cut CO2 emissions from power plants is no exception. by Rebecca John, DeSmog, Aug 3, 2023

• Earth Overshoot Day: Humanity burns through planet's yearly resources by 2 August The date can be pushed back by embracing changes like 15-minute cities, low-carbon energy and reforestation. by Rosie Frost, euronews.green, Aug 2, 2023

Thursday Aug 3, 2023

• Climate change made July hotter for almost every human on Earth by Seth Borenstein, AP News, Aug 2, 2023
• Expert Panel Warns Journalists of Coordinated Climate Disinformation Campaigns Deliberate efforts to spread climate falsehoods are often more about maintaining corporate profits than competing political ideologies. by Gaye Taylor, The Energy Mix/DeSmog, July 28, 2023
• The difference between land surface temperature and surface air temperature by John Mason, Skeptical Science, Aug 2, 2023
• It’s midwinter, but it’s over 100 degrees in South America by Ian Livingston, Weather, Washington Post, Aug 2, 2023

Friday Aug 4, 2023

• Typhoon Khanun batters Okinawa with destructive winds, severe flooding The storm, which crippled transportation and cut power to 30 percent of the island, could return later this week by Dan Stillman, Weather, Washington Post, Aug 2, 2023
• What This Year’s ‘Astonishing’ Ocean Heat Means for the Planet Brutal heat waves have baked the world this summer and they haven’t been contained to land. Earth’s oceans are the hottest they have been in modern history, by an unusually wide margin. by Elena Shao, Interactive, New York Times, Aug 3, 2023
• The Cranky Uncle game is now also available in Albanian and Macedonian! by Baerbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Aug 4, 2023
• ‘Clash of the titans’: Hurricane forecasters lay odds on an epic battle It’s early August, and experts are still mulling how El Niño’s influence may be overwhelmed by record Atlantic warmth. by Jeff Masters & Bob Henson, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Aug 3, 2023

Saturday Aug 5, 2023

• Antarctica’s heatwaves are a warning to humanity – and we have only a narrow window to save the planet Antarctica’s sea ice levels are plummeting as extreme weather events happen faster than scientists predicted, Opinion by Climate Scientists, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Aug 4, 2023 
• A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy Project 2025, a conservative “battle plan” for the next Republican president, would stop attempts to cut the pollution that is heating the planet and encourage more emissions. by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Aug 4, 2023
• NCSE helps to expose climate change propaganda aimed at kids by Glenn Branch, National Center for Science Education (NCSE), Aug 3, 2023
• The world inches closer to feared global warming 'tipping points': 5 disastrous scenarios by Elizabeth Weise, Nation, USA Today, Aug 5, 2023