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A “tipping point” occurs when a system, with only a small amount of additional energy, changes from one stable state to another suddenly and dramatically. It could be a chair falling backwards. Or it could be a major collapse of the Earth system.

The IPCC recently identified 15 potential climate-related tipping points that scientists increasingly fear we are on the verge of crossing due to global warming. In this episode of Weathered, we look at 6 of the main candidates, how they are all interconnected and influence each other, and what it would mean if they were triggered. These tipping points or tipping elements are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, global monsoons, the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation), and terrestrial permafrost and coral reefs.

If any of these systems were pushed to the limit, the consequences would be truly catastrophic and encompass everything: massive droughts, loss of biodiversity, increased flooding, heat waves, large-scale climate migration, food shortages food and much more.

Weathered is a show hosted by weather expert Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, their causes, how they develop and what we can do to prepare.

Discover America Outdoors: Understory at https://youtu.be/s-R1p89zHnk

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