Issues: Speed & Quantity

Speed and Quantity have increased the dangers and made them more urgent. Scientists speak of a Tipping Point, which is a point where such changes could not be simply reversed.

One tipping point event would be the melting of the Arctic Tundra, which would release huge amounts of methane from the old compost under the ice. Methane is a natural greenhouse gas that is 23 times more warming than CO2. There is always a small amount of methane in our atmosphere. It is produced by animals and decomposing plants. If the Tundra melts, a lot more methane may be released all at once, which would dramatically warm our atmosphere in a matter of days and weeks.

Scientists are very alarmed about this possibility. They point to Venus, a hothouse planet which is constantly wracked by high velocity storms. Many species would not be able to adapt. Most people would not be able to survive. The people who could survive in the polar regions would likely be returned to the stone age. Would you like to live as the Eskimos did two hundred years ago? Maybe an Eskimo style vacation might be fun, but what if you had to live that way for the rest of your life?