THE CLIMA​​TE DEADLINE ALLIANCE

Below are 12 of the "Feedback Loops" which have already begun that will soon become irreversible "tipping levels". They will, in a sense, begin to define a "new normal" in how the Earth functions. All evidence suggests this new normal will be very unlike the environment in which human life evolved and has been sustained.  By the end of this century human beings may follow the many other civilizations which pre-date our own into extinction.  https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2018-09-10/secretary-generals-remarks-climate-change-delivered

(1) Disappearing snow cover on land means bright, sunlight-reflecting surfaces that cool the planet becoming dark, sunlight-absorbing surfaces that bring more energy into the Earth system and cause more warming.

(2) In the same way, melting arctic sea ice leaves dark ocean water during the perpetual sunlight of summer.

(3) Decline of Arctic sea ice, potentially triggering subsequent release of ocean floor methane deposits.

(4) Atmospheric warming causing release of carbon from soil in “pulses”.

(5) Increasing ocean acidification and “Dead Zones”.

(6) Massive agricultural disruption.

(7) Increased water vapor (a strong greenhouse gas) which causes about two-thirds of greenhouse warming. As temperatures warm, more water vapor evaporates from the surface into the atmosphere, causing temperatures to climb further.

(8) About half the carbon dioxide emitted into the air from burning fossil fuels dissolves in the ocean. Warmer ocean waters will hold less dissolved carbon, leaving more in the atmosphere.

(9) As carbon dioxide increases, plants will become too saturated for photosynthesis.

(10) Increasing wildfires add massive amounts of carbon to the atmosphere.

(11) Increasing insect infestations will also result in a faster increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and more rapid global warming.

(12) Disruption of the Ocean Conveyor, the North Atlantic region would cool 3 to 5 degrees Celsius, producing winters “twice as cold as the worst winters on record in the eastern United States in the past century.