When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issue its last report in 2007, environmental tipping points were a footnote. A troubling footnote, to be sure, but the science was relatively new and unsettled. Straightforward global warming was enough to worry about.

But when the IPCC meets in 2014, tipping points β€” or tipping elements, in academic vernacular β€” will get much more attention. Scientists still disagree about which planetary systems are extra-sensitive to climate shifts, but the possibility can’t be ignored.

β€œThe problem with tipping elements is that if any of them tips, it will be a real catastrophe. None of them are small,” said Anders Levermann, a climate physicist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

The 7 tipping elements are each discussed in the article and there's a short conclusion addressing the future. Also, please don't forget to read the commentary after the article - pretty funny. I'm providing the comment that made me laugh hardest:

Posted by: daren_gray | 12/23/09 | 3:26 pm
It’s very difficult to argue data with people who believe a 2,000 year-old ghost carpenter from some desert backwater in the Middle East keeps score of how often and in what manner they fap.

Tags: climate change, tipping elements, planetary temperatures, earth, ,

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