Summary
Planet Earth is now rapidly approaching several key climatic tipping points, due in large part to our enormous release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
Climatic tipping points are reached when enough greenhouse gases accumulate or enough heat builds up to cause an earth system to crash without any further addition of gases or heat. The classic example is the arctic ice cap, which is possibly already past its tipping point for irreversible melting. In the Arctic, heat from global warming melts ice that had reflected over 80 percent of sunlight. The open water now absorbs over 80 percent of the heat. Pack enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the system reaches autopilot, the tipping point, and all the ice melts. Ohio State glaciologist Lonnie Thompson projects that the Arctic's summer ice cap, at least, will be gone by 2020.See the full content of this document
Extract
Climate Nears Tipping Point
According to a University of Chicago study, released on Nov. 24, we are approaching an even more dangerous tipping point caused by greenhouse gas accumulation: i...
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