Don't miss Saul Griffith in Melbourne 20 February

For our Melbourne and Victoria readers...

Saul Griffith's new book ‘The Big Switch’ lays out a detailed blueprint – optimistic but feasible – for decarbonising our economy while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. 

Join Saul for this special Sustainable Living Festival Forum as he reveals exactly what it will take to rapidly transform our infrastructure to zero emissions. 

 Hosted by Walkley Award-winning journalist and broadcaster, Paul Barclay, the event will be recorded and broadcast on ABC Radio National's 'Big Ideas' program.

1pm Sunday 20 February @ The Capitol

Book at https://events.humanitix.com/the-big-switch-australia-s-electric-future

 More information: http://www.slf.org.au/event/big-switch-australias-electric-future/ 

"I’m a scientist, engineer, inventor, and father who wants to leave my kids a better world. The data convinces me that it is still rational to have hope." — Saul Griffith 

Have tipping points already been passed for critical climate systems? (7) Summing up: Faster than forecast, cascades loom

by David Spratt

Seventh in a series.    Read 1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7

Image: MaxPixel

Reflecting on the evidence presented in this tipping point series, a number of conclusions may be drawn:

1. At just 1.2°C of warming, tipping points have been passed for several large Earth systems.  At just 1.2°C of global average warming, tipping points have been passed for several large Earth systems.  These include Arctic sea ice, the Greenland Ice Sheet, The Amundsen Sea glaciers in West Antarctica, the eastern Amazonian rainforest, and the world’s coral systems. The world will warm to 1.5°C by around 2030, with additional warming well beyond 1.5°C in the system after that. Yet even at the current level of warming, these systems will continue to move to qualitatively different states. In most cases, strong positive feedbacks are driving abrupt change. At higher levels of warming, the rate of change will quicken. The meme that “we have eight years to avoid 1.5°C and tipping points” should be deleted from the climate advocacy vocabulary. It is simply wrong.