Episode 8: Tipping Points

We have heard that 2020 marks the start of the decade where we start to see our window for climate action close in on the point where the consequences of climate change begin to escalate, become undoable, and start to trigger other collapses in the system. Scientists say we are reaching tipping points, that once reached, can’t be undone. But what are these tipping points, why do they cause scientists so much concern, and just how much runway do we have left. Answering some of these questions is Earth Systems Scientist Professor Will Steffen.

KEY QUOTES

“The ultimate emergency is that if the time it takes us to intervene becomes too short we can’t react fast enough, then we’ve lost the system, and that’s a true emergency.”

“ Once [our biomes] are pushed too far they are irreversibly changed… once the melting of Greenland gets to a certain point its unstoppable. We’re approaching a point where we will lose our ability to influence where our earth system is going to go… that to me is the ultimate emergency. “

“Our job as scientists is to try piece together what the science is telling us about how you might define an emergency. This is what we call a collective action problem. Everyone has to do their fair share. “

“For Australia, it is a lose lose situation. It doesn’t matter where these fossil fuels, this coal is burnt, this gas is burnt, its going to affect our climate and make things worse for drought, worse for farmers… we lose, the farmers lose, people who live in the bush lose, people who live in the cities lose. It is indeed a lose lose situation. “