The tipping point—the point where small, insignificant changes and incidents become big enough to cause a massive shift. It's something that can be positive or negative, but in the case of climate change and our environment, it leans towards the latter.
Are we headed towards a climate crisis tipping point?
Researchers Say We Are Close to Climate Crisis' Tipping Point
According to a news article by WIRED, a group of researchers published a journal on Nature, arguing that we are now closer to the point of no return and unleashing the nine climate demons compared to what was previously believed.
"We argue that the intervention time left to prevent tipping could already have shrunk towards zero, whereas the reaction time to achieve net zero emissions is 30 years at best," wrote Timothy Lenton, director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, as well as his colleagues.
They also believed we might have already lost control if the tipping occurs.
When Earth's system collapses, it can lead to what is known as "hothouse earth" conditions, wherein the temperature around the world can increase nine degrees Fahrenheit or five degrees Celsius.
It can also cause sea levels to rise 20 to 30 feet high, as well as losing our coral reefs and the Amazon rainforest, making large parts of our world uninhabitable, as per National Geographic.
The Tipping Points
There are already evidences that we are headed towards a climate crisis tipping point, and they are grouped into three categories: ice, land, and sea.
Greenland is losing its ice sheet, and Financial Times reported it might be nearing a point where the ice sheets will eventually shrink. The Arctic ice is also currently losing more ice, which could cause more heat absorption since ice water is more reflective compared to seawater.
Soil that has stayed frozen throughout the years is also getting exposed, which is causing carbon dioxide and methane to be released into the atmosphere.
It means losing ice can further cause warming.
The Land and Sea
Things happening on land are more grim, with the deforestation happening in Amazon and around the world's largest forests.
Deforestation causes drying, which can fuel more wildfires, just like what has happened previously in the Amazon forest and other forests around the world, therefore losing Earth's lungs gradually.
Additionally, the fires emit more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
The rise of the global temperature has taken its toll on our coral reefs, causing bleaching and their inevitable death.
Besides global warming, the ocean's acidification and pollution are also causing more damage than what we thought, adding around two degrees Celsius in our global temperature.
Chain Reaction
Perhaps, the most terrifying thing of all is that these tipping points can interact with each other, causing a cascading domino effect that is causing an existential threat.
The group of researchers, as well as other environmental activists, are calling for immediate and real action from everyone now, lest we all lose our one and only home—or make living impossible for the next generations.
But, it's not solely the leaders' responsibility, but the entire human race's.
