Earth Equity News

Scientists Dispute Using the Term 'Tipping Point'. By Andrew C. Revkin, NYTimes, March 29, 2009. "Environmentalists and some climate experts are increasingly warning of impending tipping points in their efforts to stir public concern. The term confers a sense of immediacy and menace to potential threats from a warming climate -- dangers that otherwise might seem too distant for people to worry about. But other scientists say there is little hard evidence to back up specific predictions of catastrophe. They worry that the use of the term 'tipping point' can be misleading and could backfire, fueling criticism of alarmism and threatening public support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions... Nevertheless, the use of the tipping point concept has intensified recently, as the Obama administration and Congress work on legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions and the world's nations negotiate a new climate treaty. In reports released this month, both the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Program focused on tipping points as a prime concern... [NASA climate scientist, Dr. James] Hansen defends the use of the term tipping point and said that it accurately depicts some probable consequences of unchecked global warming. There is abundant evidence, he says, that rising temperatures can have an abrupt, calamitous and 'nonlinear' effect on glaciers and ecosystems."