Harvesting and sowing
Imagine this terrible scenario: the Atlantic Ocean currents that bring warm water to Europe disappear, leaving large parts of the continent as cold as the Arctic Circle.
In a grim twist, that is exactly the scenario a team of European scientists are warning about in a new study in the diary Nature communication: that this catastrophic collapse – along with the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the melting of the Arctic ice – is on track to actually happen if we continue on our current path.
The scientists specifically say that these major Earth systems, which are important for keeping the global climate stable for human civilization, have a 45 percent or higher chance of collapsing in the next 300 years, even if we temporarily reduce global warming to below 10… the threshold of 1.5 degrees CelsiusWorse, the collapse may be irreversible.
The researchers modeled a range of climate policies based on CO2 emissions while feeding in climate data on the Amazon rainforest, polar ice in Greenland and West Antarctica, and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which regulates the flow of warm water from the tropics to Europe.
“Domestic policies to reduce emissions must be adopted and implemented, not just pledged. Larger and more urgent efforts are needed to limit the risks associated with tipping elements,” the scientists write.
Collapse shop
It goes without saying that this all sounds pretty bad. The effects of the slowing and eventual collapse of the Atlantic currents will be terrible for agriculture in Europe, where it will be harder to grow anything.
And as a result of global warming, the polar ice caps would likely melt and the Amazon would turn into dry savannah, making an already bad situation worse.
Scientists are calling for a net-zero carbon footprint as soon as possible, which would stave off the worst effects of climate change. Even that doesn’t feel like a certainty, especially with the energy-intensive rush to AI and petrostates such as Saudi Arabia blocks policy to help the world wean itself off fossil fuels.
What is there to do? It is not all bad news, with different states and countries increasing generation of solar energy and other scientists who carbon capture technologiesalongside other green technologies.
Some researchers even go so far as to say that experiments in the field of geo-engineeringwhich would shoot particles into the atmosphere to darken the sun. However, it is a sign of desperation that such an idea is even being considered.
More about climate change: Scientists apply for permit to dump chemicals into ocean in experiment to combat climate change
