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LINK Planet at risk of heading towards “Hothouse Earth” state - Stockholm Resilience Centre

Climate change is and will happen in quick quantum like bursts depending on which dominoes we decide to let fall. It's not only a question of increasing heat it's also the loss of protective barriers. Great explanation here.

"Human emissions of greenhouse gas are not the sole determinant of temperature on Earth. Our study suggests that human-induced global warming of 2°C may trigger other Earth system processes, often called “feedbacks”, that can drive further warming - even if we stop emitting greenhouse gases," says lead author Will Steffen from the Australian National University and Stockholm Resilience Centre.

"Avoiding this scenario requires a redirection of human actions from exploitation to stewardship of the Earth system.”
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These feedbacks are: permafrost thaw, loss of methane hydrates from the ocean floor, weakening land and ocean carbon sinks, increasing bacterial respiration in the oceans, Amazon rainforest dieback, boreal forest dieback, reduction of northern hemisphere snow cover, loss of Arctic summer sea ice, and reduction of Antarctic sea ice and polar ice sheets.

“These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominoes. Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth towards another. It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over. Places on Earth will become uninhabitable if “Hothouse Earth” becomes the reality,” warns co-author Johan Rockström, former executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and incoming co-director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

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Lukian 8 Aug 8
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3 comments

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when warned that so many straws were sucking the aquifer dry did anyone give a fuck? No it simply became a race to the bottom of the well.
Humans by and large are bad for the earth. IMO I in no way exclude moi.

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The basic understanding or ability for the Average joe to realise and comprehend the acute seriousness of our predicament, will invariably, when the time for action comes (which was probably 20 yrs ago) for a voting block to take decisive (combined unilateral international) action be too late ..and the majority voting blocks will not believe it is not "real" and will defer to moronic leaders like Trump..to reinforce climate change denial..R.I.P mankind.

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Irreversible.

yes irreversible because these falling dominoes create climate change reinforcement feedback i.e. permafrost bogs that melt release methane (worst than CO2). If the permafrost melts than you need extra coldness to refreeze it to stop it from releasing more methane. Each domino is a potential point of no return.

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