How Close Are the Planet’s Climate Tipping Points?

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By Raymond Zhong and Mira Rojanasakul, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: For the past two decades, scientists have been raising alarms about great systems in the natural world that warming, caused by carbon emissions, might be pushing toward collapse. These systems are so vast that they can stay somewhat in balance even as temperatures rise. But only to a point. Once we warm the planet beyond certain levels, this balance might be lost, scientists say. The effects would be sweeping and hard to reverse. Not like the turning of a dial, but the flipping of a switch. One that wouldn’t be easily flipped back. ...Mass Death of Coral Reefs. ...Abrupt Thawing of Permafrost. ...Collapse of Greenland Ice. ...Breakup of West Antarctic Ice. ...Sudden Shift in the West African Monsoon. ...Loss of Amazon Rainforest. ...Shutdown of Atlantic Currents.... 

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