Total Climate Meltdown “Not Implausible”

A PNAS study presents an urgent warning: Crossing a series of critical thresholds could push the Earth into nearly uninhabitable “hellish hothouse conditions” in the next century.

“These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominoes. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth towards another,” says researcher Johan Rockstrom. These include thawing permafrost, receding Arctic summer ice and Antarctic polar ice sheets, and loss of methane hydrates from the ocean floor.

Researchers warn there’s still significant risk of breaching these thresholds even if CO2 emissions are reduced; other considerable conservation efforts will be needed to stem irreversible damage.

Al Jazeera