What If Global Warming is Non-Linear
The interesting and potentially life-defining question of “what if global warming is non-linear” [ark] is worthy of consideration. That is, if we continue to increase carbon emissions, global warming may increase exponentially — ever resulting in more change per unit of pollution — and causing crises much more rapidly. Such abrupt climate change is a rapid change in climate — perhaps in a decade or less — over a widespread area to which human and natural systems have difficulty adapting. In other words, death and destruction result.
The question of how quickly climate will change is of great interest to the Climate Change Blog as we are committed to emphasizing the potential for worst case climate change and other ecosystem collapse scenarios. There are many ways that this can happen, which we feel are as or more likely than other scenarios. Abrupt climate change can result from numerous positive feedbacks such as permafrost melt, Arctic albedo change and rainforest dieback; and/or in conjunction with land degradation, water scarcity, ocean decline and persistent toxics. These positive feedbacks and synergies with other elements of global change continue to be given short thrift, and this is worrying.
