What's missing from the latest IPCC report?

By Gwinne Dyer

It’s the feedbacks, stupid.

Without the feedbacks, we could go on burning fossil fuels and cutting down the forests, and the average global temperature would creep up gradually, but so slowly that most inhabited parts of the planet would stay liveable for a long time.

But if we trigger the feedbacks, the whole thing goes runaway.

Read the whole text by Gwynne Dyer





 

The world as a pressure cooker

A simple and effective statement from George Mobus' blog: "Question Everything" 
(image from xkcd)

"I'm seeing the world as a pressure cooker or boiler that has been overheated. Some of the bolts that hold the thing together are starting to buckle and the gaskets are starting to leak. Think of all the areas of the world where steam is bursting forth. Actually try to think of a part of the world where that isn't happening. It is a shorter list these days."