Why are we at Media Lens utterly terrified by climate collapse while other people we know are mildly concerned, blithely indifferent or cockily contrarian?
The simple answer is that we are doing this full-time and ‘doing this’ includes reading the unfiltered reports and thoughts of top climate sc
I’m surprised they didn’t mention a key tipping point I’ve been following: melting permafrost.
It’s dangerous because once all the permafrost in Alaska, Canada, and Russia starts melting, the gasses it releases are a self fulfilling prophecy. The warming caused by permafrost melt is enough to keep melting permafrost.
Good report on the dangers here:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110722
Current estimates are that an increase of just 1.5°C in global temperatures over average would be enough to hit this tipping point and we’re already at +0.8.
https://worldbusiness.org/permafrost-the-climates-tipping-time-bomb/
Continuing to increase at a rate of 0.08°C per decade means we’ll hit this in approximately 80 or 90 years? Except that, since 1980, we’ve been warming at a rate of +0.18°C per decade, so we should hit the tipping point by 2062, tops.
Eh, what do I care, I’ll be 93 years old, assuming I’m not already dead by then. :)
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature