Climate experts have identified 9 tipping points in the climate system that could trigger sudden catastrophic changes if crossed, including melting of Arctic sea ice and collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. These tipping points would have severe consequences like significant sea level rise. Some tipping points like Arctic sea ice melting may already have been passed. Public perception that climate change threats are distant or only impact nature reduces chances of preventing tipping points from being crossed, though Americans produce a large portion of emissions. Shifting human perception from denial to responsibility is critical to triggering an ultimate tipping point of climate action.

1. Facts About Climate Change
Brought to you by
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Educating for Humanity & the World we Want
www.hol.edu

2. CLIMATE TIPPING POINTS
In the Anthrocene Period
A group of macro climatic
conditions that hold the
fate of life on the planet as
we know it.

3. Climate experts from around the world have identified a series of
global-warming tipping points, any one of which, if triggered,
will likely initiate sudden, catastrophic changes across the planet.
Odds are you've never heard of most of these tipping points, even though
your entire genetic legacy—your children, your grandchildren, and
beyond—may or may not survive depending on their status.

4. THE
TIPPING
POINTS
& How Long They
Will Take To Tip
at Current Rates
1 Melting of Arctic Sea-Ice (approx 10 yrs)
2 Decay of the Greenland Ice Sheet (more than 300 yrs)
3 Collapse of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet
(more than 300 yrs)
4 Collapse of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation
(approx 100 yrs)
5 Increase in the El Nino Southern Oscillation
(approx 100 yrs)
6 Collapse of the Indian Summer Monsoon (approx 1 yr)
7 Greening of the Sahara/Sahel and disruption of the
West African Monsoon (approx 10 yrs)
8 Dieback of the Amazon rainforest (approx 50 yrs)
9 Dieback of the Boreal forest (approx 50 yrs)

5. VERY SENSITIVE
TO ALREADY-HAPPENING
CLIMATE CHANGE
Greenland Ice Sheet.
In a worst-case scenario, even slightly warmer temperatures will
melt the ice, possibly causing the ice sheet to disappear during the
next 300 years. Global sea levels would rise by over 20 feet.

6. VERY SENSITIVE
TO ALREADY-HAPPENING
CLIMATE CHANGE
ice. We may have hit this point already.
Arctic Sea Ice.
As sea ice melts, the dark ocean surfaced will be exposed,
absorbing solar energy and accelerating the melt. Good-bye, sea

8. SOMEWHAT
SENSITIVE
West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
If global temperatures rise, the ice sheet will
melt, finally collapsing and raising sea levels
by 15 feet in the next 300 years.

9. SOMEWHAT
SENSITIVE
terrestrial carbon sinks.
Boreal Forest.
If northern forests can’t handle the heat,
they’ll die, taking away one of Earth’s primary

10. SOMEWHAT
SENSITIVE
Amazon Rainforest.
Deforestation and climate change will probably reduce
Amazonian rainfall, causing the rain forests to dry up
and shrink. There goes another carbon sink.

11. SOMEWHAT
SENSITIVE
El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Different temperatures in different Pacific water layers interact with varying equatorial
temperatures to produce the global weather patterns known as El Niño and La Niña. If
ENSO is disrupted, the El Niño aspect will become more pronounced, leading to
harsher droughts in some places and flooding in others.

12. SOMEWHAT
SENSITIVE
Sahara/Sahel- and West African Monsoon.
A warming Atlantic could make the monsoons dry
up or become even more severe. Or both,
depending on the year.

13. SOMEWHAT
SENSITIVE
Indian Summer Monsoon.
Warmer air carries more water; see previous
tipping point for consequences.

14. NOT SO
SENSITIVE
Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation.
Atlantic ocean circulation is driven by seawater cooling and sinking in the
North Atlantic. If fresh water is added from warming glaciers, or seawater
warms, then the cooling-and-sinking cycle could stop, causing North
Atlantic sea levels to rise and a shift in tropical rainfalls.

15. TIPPING
ELEMENT
CHART
& KEY
IMPACTS

16. WE ARE
OUR OWN
WORST
ENEMY
While most Americans are moderately concerned about global
warming, the majority—68%—believe the greatest threats are
to people far away or to nonhuman nature. Only 13% perceive
any real risk to themselves, their families, or their communities.
As long as this dangerous misconception prevails, the chances
of preventing these points from tipping are virtually nil.
This perception is critical, since Americans constitute
only 5% of the global population yet produce nearly
25% of the global carbon dioxide emissions.

17. WHAT WILL
IT TAKE
TO TRIGGER
THE ULTIMATE
TIPPING POINT?
How can we create a shift in
human perception from personal
denial to personal responsibility?

18. THE TRUTH IS
WE CAN CHANGE WITH
BREATH TAKING SPEED!
The 18th-century taxonomist
Carolus Linnaeus named us
Homo sapiens, from the Latin words
meaning "prudent & wise.”
HISTORY SHOWS
WE ARE NOT BORN
WITH WISDOM.
WE EVOLVE INTO IT.
40 years ago many people believed
human nature required blacks and
whites to live in segregation.
30 years ago human nature divided
men and women into separate
economies.
20 years ago human nature prevented
us from defusing a global nuclear
standoff.
Nowadays we blame human nature for
the insolvable hazards of global
warming.