There are hundreds of these points though, some more important than others. Some linked to others some relatively independent. eg several species are already extinct, others will be soon, too late for those. Still others are hanging on and if we act they may survive.
Permafrost melt has started, but its not sure if we have reached that tipping point where it can not be halted. Likewise chlathrates, some melting is happening, but no one knows how much we are destined for yet.
There are so many 'systems' that make up our biosphere and we really know very little. There was a fear that the ocean currents would be affected, but our understanding of how they really work is far from complete, so it turns out that [fortunately for those living around the north Atlantic] that circulation is being 'protected' from collapse by a spillover of a circulation pattern in the Indian ocean, [unexpected].
We are being [as a species] very silly to be meddling on a grand scale with our only biosphere when we really know very little about the outcome. What we do know suggests the results won't be good.
With the current situation regarding business as usual [keep burning more and more fossil fuels] we won't be destroying the planet or all life on it even. Hey we might even survive, but we are going to make life a lot harder for our descendents.
The saddest part about it is that we actually have the capacity to do something about it and it isn't 'expensive' and it doesn't destroy 'our way of life'. We just have to be a bit more careful about how we do things, and spend maybe 1 or 2% of our economy's growth to change to renewables. We spend more on armies to kill each other. We gave more to corrupt incompetent financiers and bankers through the economic melt down they created. So its not a bit impost in the scheme of things.
But humans are not set up to co-operate. So we won't and we will set our kids and their kids up for a harsh existence just because we didn't want to give up even a little luxury like that cup of 'starbucks coffee'.
We are already over the 400ppm with CO2 and climbing ever faster. Meanwhile oil companies, governments, miners are all busy exploring for more fossil fuels to dig up/extract at ever faster rates.
earths hottest period was the carboniferous epoch . CO2 levels were as high as 363 ppm . the ice caps melted , the entire earth was tropical , the sea levels were a few hundred feet higher .
on 12 21 12 atmospheric CO2 hit 400 ppm . we are doomed . humanity has about 20 years left .
so what will the rich man do ?
those recent " explorer " missions to mars are really a secret last ditch attempt to spread moss and lichens there ( the only earth plants that could survive there now ) to try to grow a O2 atmosphere there . to terraform mars into a habitable planet . if you have several billion dollars you may be among the few who can afford the one way ticket .
You can see you get the ignorance of alarmists on display above suggesting such idiocies as the Arctic is past the tipping point or permafrost is melting. How do you argue with such ignoramuses, particularly when they really believe they are informed. They are just a bunch of wacko leftists who can't distinguish between science and their politics. They would like you to believe there is a tipping point, but there is zero evidence for it so they dream up idiotic things that have happened numerous times in the past as if that is evidence. The only thing it is evidence of is their ignorance. The climate has always changed. The Arctic warms in the summer. This year, it was far colder than last. Maybe next year it will be warmer than this year and the bozos will be harping about how we are killing the polar bears unless we enact their political agendas.
Walaka couldn't name a singles species that went extinct due to our CO2 emissions but that won't stop him from spewing gibberish. He is on a crusade. They behave as if they are cultists and they pretend to have science on their side. As an actual scientists, their attacks on science really piss me off.
http://beforeitsnews.com/science-and-tec...
There are limits to CO2 warming!
Big Gryph - Get over your denial that CO2 is not as powerful of a greenhouse gas as was once thought by your idol Arrhenius. It's funny how he backed off of his original climate model projecting warming to be 5C - 6C with a doubling of atmospheric CO2 to 1.5C 10 years later. 6C is 400% higher than 1.5C and he was still not sure about that extent of warming because temperatures continued to drop even after his correction. Laughable to say the least!
We are currently in a cycle of glacial and interglacial periods. This has been going on for over 450,000 years. (Apologies for the cherry-picked dates.) Nothing unusual seems to be happening: http://www.skepticalscience.com/images/w...
CO2 is not particularly high. In fact, if you look at this graph you can see that it is actually rather low. Plants really struggle to grow below about 200-250 ppm. So it looks as if we narrowly avoided that: http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/PageMi...
Any mention of tipping points needs to be accompanied by a reference to a peer-reviewed scientific report. Otherwise just treat them as idle speculation.
Please note we are definitely not in a cooling phase. It is just the temperature that is decreasing - quite different: http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut...
No, and that is a fact not an opinion.History has already told us the answer to this as previously co2 has been at least 10 times higher than today and no tipping point was reached. So I think we can safely put this lie to bed now once and for all.
Get real.
We are in a cooling phase. What has happened over the last hundred years is not a lot different than what's been happening for thousands of years.
The truth is coming out that sea level rise has been greatly exaggerated, the ice caps are growing. Record cold temps have been happening for the last year.
Is your question really serious? Have you not been keeping up with the literature.
Global warming has been put to bed by cold weather all over the globe.
tipping point to what? We're past the tipping point of an ice free arctic in a few years even if we stop all emissions. We're not likely at a tipping point of a runaway greenhouse Venus like planet.
so, define your tipping point.
EDIT Zippi "There are limits to CO2 warming" , tell that to Venus.
It was previously projected to be 350ppm but as we approached 350, some said 400ppm
I suspect 550ppm is the tipping point. I saw mention of this but don't remember where
We already have enough to take us to 2100 and beyond. At 550ppm this planet will be a very different place for future generatrons
*****Mae...OMG when will you DA deniers get it through your thick skulls that we are absolutely not in a cooling phase.
There is no single "tipping point."
There are many.
News reports that I have been reading lately have been rather dour, to say the least. That we are past a tipping point in terms of climate change. Have we really gone past a point of no return, and if so at approximately what point did this happen?
