One of the truly horrific unfolding disasters of the climate crisis is the thawing of Siberian permafrost, which has the potential to dwarf human emissions of CO2 and methane. And it looks like it’s getting started. But don’t worry, I’m sure those crazy alarmist scientists use words like “ticking time bomb” all the time, right?
This brings up one of the most terrifying aspects (to me) of climate change: the positive feedback cycle. We’ve started the global climate change ball rolling, and now it threatens to roll completely out of control. There are a bunch of potential positive feedback cycles (melting ice reflecting less energy back into space is another), and all of them could be disastrous.
Critically, when the IPCC last made it’s predictions about the scope of potential climate change, it ignored positive feedback, claiming poor information. I suspect the next report won’t ignore the issue.
What kind of world do we need to prepare for? The merely bad, or the possibly disastrous?
