Human activities are causing significant changes to Earth’s climate, leading to hotter summers, wetter storms, higher seas, and fiercer wildfires. Scientists are warning that these changes could push great natural systems towards collapse. The mass death of coral reefs, due to bleaching caused by warmer waters, could result in the loss of 70% to 90% of today’s reef-building corals in the coming decades. The abrupt thawing of permafrost, releasing large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, could worsen global warming over a long period. The collapse of the Greenland ice sheet and the breakup of the West Antarctic ice could lead to irreversible melting and rising sea levels, impacting coastlines worldwide. The sudden shift in the West African monsoon due to warming could have significant implications for the region’s people and environment. The loss of the Amazon rainforest, a critical weather engine, could result in the degradation of the forest into savanna by 2050. Finally, the shutdown of Atlantic currents, disrupted by Greenland’s melting ice, could have far-reaching consequences on global climate patterns. These cascading effects highlight the urgent need for proactive measures to combat climate change and protect the planet’s ecosystems for future generations.
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The Proximity of the Planet’s Climate Tipping Points
