Tipping points: on the edge?
Tipping points - in the Amazon, Antarctic, coral reefs and more - could cause fundamental parts of the Earth system to change dramatically, irreversibly and with devastating effects. Here, we ask the experts about the latest science – and how it makes them feel.
The threatening thaw: climate professor on heatwave risks to tipping point of permafrost
Prof Gustaf Hugelius warns wildfires could accelerate release of methane and carbon as vast regions approach irreversible thresholds
‘A cascade can be more positive’: social tipping points expert on fixing climate crisis
The world has been too optimistic about the risk to humanity and planet – but devastation can still be avoided, says Timothy Lenton
‘It looks more likely with each day we burn fossil fuels’: polar scientist on Antarctic tipping points
Despite working on polar science for the British Antarctic Survey for 20 years, Louise Sime finds the magnitude of potential sea-level rise hard to comprehend
‘We are perilously close to the point of no return’: climate scientist on Amazon rainforest’s future
Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached
‘It’s death by a thousand cuts’: marine ecologist on the collapse of coral reefs
David Obura believes humans have been using nature for free, and tipping points at some reefs have already passed
‘This is a fight for life’: climate expert on tipping points, doomerism and using wealth as a shield
Economic assumptions about risks of the climate crisis are no longer relevant, says the communications expert Genevieve Guenther
‘We don’t know where the tipping point is’: climate expert on potential collapse of Atlantic circulation
Oceanographer Stefan Rahmstorf explains why Amoc breakdown could be catastrophic for both humans and marine life
