4 ms·
- No way back from spiraling climate change - Positive feedback loops of melting ice -> lower albedo -> more energy absorbed from the sun -> more ice melts -
by lopis 5y ago
- No way back from spiraling climate change
- Positive feedback loops of melting ice -> lower albedo -> more energy absorbed from the sun -> more ice melts
- Unstoppable acidification of oceans and death of vasts amounts of sea life
- Disruption of thermohaline ocean currents, disrupting weather everywhere with little time for nature to adapt, leading to mass extinctions
- Areas where we currently grow most food will quickly become impossible to farm
Basically the point is that the "budget" is how much we can pump and still go back and fix.
- gmuslera 5y agoDon't forget the feedback loops that adds even more carbon, like permafrost thawing and more frequent/extended forest fires. Even if we stop extracting and burning fossil carbon, still new carbon will be keep being added to the carbon cycle, more each year, due to global warming that seem to have the biggest temperature anomalies around the Arctic. And there are others that slow down the cycle of carbon, like carbon sinks becoming less effective or even turn into net emitters. It is not possible to just push the brakes and expect an immediate result, the extra carbon that is in the atmosphere will continue warming the planet and the actual warming will fuel positive feedback loops that will make things even worse (and they are not limited to just melting ice). And, of course, things will keep getting far worse as much as we delay doing something significant in this area.