Column: There won’t be a return to normal if we pass the climate tipping points

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 17, 2023

Ever since 2015, we have been operating with two “never-exceeds.” The big, flashing red lights, with sirens blaring, are at 2 degrees Celsius, because after that we would be crossing lots of tipping points: Arctic sea ice gone, Amazon forest turning into savannah, methane coming out of melting permafrost, lots of things causing rapid, unstoppable further warming. But they also set the lower, “aspirational” never-exceed target of 1.5 degrees Celsius because they were worried that some of the tipping points might activate even before 2 degrees Celsius. “Aspirational” because even in 2015 it didn’t look very likely that we would be able to cut our emissions that rapidly. ~ Gwynne Dyer