Last updated 11.2.25. (G)
The following definitions and descriptions in our climate change glossary are essential to understanding the states, processes, and consequences of global warming (also known as climate change), now being discussed throughout the media. This brief glossary will hopefully make it considerably easier for the public to comprehend the many complex facts and processes surrounding today's global warming issues.
This glossary is not in alphabetical order. To facilitate understanding for individuals new to climate change and global warming, these definitions are presented in the general order from the most basic to the most complex. Please do not miss the definition of irreversible global warming further down the page.
Greenhouse gases: Atmospheric gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone that can either absorb and emit heat radiation. When they absorb heat radiation, they warm the globe, hence global warming.
Global warming: A term used for the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system and its related effects. Qualified climate scientists are more than 97% certain that most of global warming is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other human-caused activities.
Climate: “This is the statistics of weather, usually taken over a 30-year interval. It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric carbon, and other particle counts, and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time. Climate differs from weather in that weather describes only the less than 30-year short-term conditions of these variables in a given region.” (From Wikipedia.) Fossil fuel lobbyists like to confuse us by directing our attention to the shorter time cycles of weather and climate, whereas the global warming temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count, and other meteorological variables cycles that have occurred over hundreds of thousands or millions of years are the most important ones to understand our current global warming emergency. When we compare current global warming cycles to past cycles and time frames, rather than current weather or 30-year climate cycles, we can more clearly see what's really happening and how dangerous our current trends of rapidly escalating global warming are to our future. See the graph below for long-term variations in atmospheric carbon ppm concentrations.
Image via Robert A. Rohdes, Wikimedia Commons.
Climate change: An intentionally misleading term forwarded by fossil fuel lobbyists and the media they control to focus the target audience’s attention on the less than 30-year weather changes to downplay the real and longer-term dangers of global warming to the public and media.
Global warming consequences: The illustration below lists many of the most important consequences of global warming. These consequences will also become increasingly severe, frequent, and widespread as global warming escalates.
Global warming tipping points: The point where a process or stimulus experiences a sudden change, causing the process to jump from one state to a new, significantly different state, much like a tipped wine glass going from being full to empty.
Point of no return: The point of directional motion and momentum at which a developing process thereafter irreversibly moves toward crossing its tipping point.
Positive feedback loop: A process that occurs as a self-reinforcing loop in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system feed back upon itself to increase its magnitude, furthering and increasing the disturbance process in an unending loop. Positive feedback loops can and often do produce tipping points.
West Antarctic Ice Sheet: A good example of the dangers of crossing a point of no return and its tipping point, this ice sheet has already begun the irreversible collapse process. Once this particular ice sheet melts completely, it will trigger the subsequent melting of most of Antarctica's ice, resulting in a significant rise in global sea levels.
Global warming emergency: is defined by the current 400-409 ppm level of carbon parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere as well as by the continued exponential rise of annual carbon ppm in the atmosphere (now at about 4 ppm additional per year). We are currently in a global warming emergency and are either poised on the edge of or already experiencing irreversible global warming.
Global warming temperature prediction models: To predict future temperatures, scientists utilize supercomputers to create numerous models and simulations that incorporate current observational data. They also experiment with various formulas and factors, as there are numerous variables. There are climate inertia and momentum variables, as well as adjustment variables for the overall climate, which has changed more slowly in the past than today. Additionally, although different formulas and factors may be used to determine time frames for temperature increases, and these predictions may vary somewhat, what hasn't changed is that 97% of all climate scientists say human-caused global warming is real, dangerous, and an immediate problem for the future of humanity.
DMAP Meta-systemic analysis used for global warming: Examining systems and subsystems involved in global warming from a meta perspective that considers them both as stand-alone and individual systems as well as being interconnected and interdependent with and upon each other. Meta-systemic analysis involves a detailed examination of processes, contexts, relationships, and the continual transformations that occur among and between interconnected and interdependent systems and subsystems within the selected area of analysis. To read more about meta-systemic analysis, click here.
Carbon parts per million (ppm): The current level and concentration of carbon molecules in our atmosphere, as measured by the Keeling curve (below) in parts per million. Additional carbon molecules are the main reason behind today's escalating global warming. Because of the immutable laws of physics, the more cumulative carbon particles we add to the atmosphere, the faster temperatures will rise!
Keeling curve for measuring atmospheric carbon: A graph below plotting the ongoing change in concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere since 1958, as charted by Charles David Keeling. Keeling's measurements provided the first significant evidence of rapidly increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Using Keeling curve observational data to predict future temperature increases, one can extrapolate that for each additional 25 ppm of carbon added to the atmosphere, the temperature would rise by an estimated 0.27° Celsius (0.5° Fahrenheit). The time to that temperature increase varies, but in general, the more cumulative carbon we add to the atmosphere, the faster temperatures will rise!
The image below is the Keating curve. To see a video explanation of this curve and how it has changed over the decades, click here.
No matter what you're hearing in the media or being told, if the atmospheric carbon ppm level isn't returning to the safer zone of 350 ppm, global warming isn't improving. This is because higher atmospheric carbon ppm levels equal increased global heat in the future.
Carbon 425 to 450 ppm tipping point) At or around this point, there is a significant increase in the speed and scale of crossing of global warming tipping points within the many global warming systems and subsystems. The carbon 425-450 ppm range also marks the last battle line and last chance for maintaining meaningful control over the processes that will prevent irreversible global warming from eventually becoming extinction-level climate destabilization.
Parts per million (ppm) and parts per million by volume (ppmv): A measure of the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere; "ppm" refers to parts per million by weight, which typically accounts for a single pollutant (such as carbon) and does not account for traces of other pollutants. Parts per million by volume (ppmv), on the other hand, includes other trace gases, such as methane.
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and storing it for the long term. Carbon sequestration involves long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to mitigate or defer global warming. Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes.
Garrett global warming crisis: If we do not scale up green energy generation as fast as we scale down fossil fuel energy generation, the global economy will collapse. If we do not immediately shut down fossil fuel energy generation, civilization will eventually collapse, and humanity may become extinct.
Climageddon: This coined term combines the words' climate' and 'Armageddon'. “Armageddon” is often used to refer to any end-of-the-world scenario. Global warming, as described in the new book Climageddon, has evolved into an impending end-of-the-world scenario.
Climageddon Scenario: A new time-sequenced, analytical prediction and planning model to better understand the complex and intertwined processes, contexts, relationships, transformations, tipping points, and consequences of the escalating global warming emergency, up to and including an extinction scenario. (See illustrations below.)
Receive Free Climate Change & Global Warming Info!
Precautionary principle: “Used by policymakers to guide discretionary decisions in situations where there is the possibility of harm from making a certain decision (e.g., taking a particular course of action) when extensive scientific knowledge on the matter is lacking. The principle implies that there is a social responsibility to protect the public from exposure to harm, when scientific investigation has found a plausible risk. These protections can be relaxed only if further scientific findings emerge that provide sound evidence that no harm will result.” (from Wikipedia)
Destructive creation: The evolutionary recycling meta-pattern for parts or wholes of a system or subsystem that are unable to adapt. This core meta-pattern of breakdown and recycling allows these parts to be reused and, once again, to support future experiments in the evolutionary process.
Climate destabilization: According to Alexei Turchin, “[a] transitional state of escalating global climate instability...characterized by greater unpredictability, which lasts until the global climate eventually finds a new and different stable state of dynamic equilibrium and balance at some different level of temperature and other climate qualities from what it has held for hundreds or thousands of years."
Catastrophic climate destabilization: Term associated with a measurement of carbon 400-450 ppm (Climageddon Scenario Phase 1). The eventual temperature range commonly associated with catastrophic climate destabilization is an increase in average global temperature of approximately 1.2°-2.7 °C (2.2°-4.9°F). When global warming-caused storms, floods, seasonal disruptions, wildfires, and droughts begin to cost a nation $ 30 to $ 100 billion per incident to repair (as seen with Hurricane Sandy), we will have reached the level of catastrophic climate destabilization.
Irreversible climate destabilization: A term associated with the overall state of the global climate and a measurement of carbon ppm, beginning Phase 1 around 386 carbon ppm, which occurred in 1986. Phase 2 ranges from carbon 386 ppm to about 550-600 ppm (Climageddon Scenario, Phases 2-4). The eventual temperature range associated with irreversible climate destabilization is an increase in the average global temperature of up to 4 °C (7.2 °F). Irreversible climate destabilization is characterized by a new average global temperature range and a set of destabilizing climate consequences that we will take hundreds or even thousands of years to correct or rebalance. When global warming-caused storms, floods, seasonal disruptions, wildfires, and droughts begin to cost a nation $100 billion to $300 billion per incident to repair, we will have reached the level of irreversible climate destabilization.
Irreversible climate change means we will not be able to reduce dangerous levels of excess greenhouse gases (such as carbon) in our atmosphere back to normal, human-safe pre-industrial levels for hundreds to thousands of years. (As of July 2025, we are currently at the insane atmospheric carbon level of 427 ppm. We have entered the generally considered irreversible and second phase of runaway global heating in 2025 and 2031. We estimate we will enter into the carbon 450 ppm range sometime between 2033 or sooner.)
Extinction-level climate destabilization: Term to describe when the amount of carbon in the air reaches 600 ppm and global temperatures average between 5° and 6° Celsius (9-10.8° Fahrenheit), resulting in the eventual extinction of up to half or more of all species on Earth (Climageddon Scenario, Phases 5-6). Extinction-level climate destabilization occurs when life can no longer survive and thrive. There is a possibility that extinction-level climate destabilization may never correct or rebalance itself to a new equilibrium. If the climate were able to correct or rebalance itself from this level of destabilization, it could take hundreds to thousands of years.
Complex adaptive system: The collective whole of connected structures and processes (systems and subsystems) that are highly unpredictable, self-organizing, and often include spontaneous or unexpected outcomes and tipping points. They also contain nonlinear relationships, meaning that one area can affect a completely different system or subsystem where there seems to be no discernible cause-and-effect relationship. Please also see Wikipedia for the full definition; it is that important.
Second Industrial Revolution: A period of innovation between 1870 and 1914 that introduced the combustion engine, the telegraph, radio, mass production via assembly lines, widespread usage of electricity, and the expanded use of oil and steel.
Third Industrial Revolution: A new industrial revolution based on moving out of fossil fuel energy generation and into green energy generation, as well as using new Internet and other digital technologies that will create hundreds of millions of new jobs. Similar to the mechanization of the textile industry during the First Industrial Revolution and the introduction of mass production via assembly lines in the Second Industrial Revolution, the Third Industrial Revolution is unfolding as manufacturing transitions from fossil fuels to green energy and into digital innovations, such as the Internet of Things. This term refers to Jeremy Rifkin's concepts from The Third Industrial Revolution.
Sustainable prosperity: A set of new sustainability principles that create shared sufficiency as well as abundance for individuals, communities, and nations in the vital and meaningful areas of life, and to have this qualified prosperity sustained over the long term. (See “Sustainable Prosperity” at JobOneforHumanity.org.)
First Great Evolutionary Bottleneck: A drastic reduction in the global human population due to a supervolcanic eruption 50,000 years ago. This global disaster was theorized to have reduced the human species to 3,000-10,000 survivors and as few as 1,000 to 200 remaining mating pairs. If global warming continues to escalate, we are headed for the second great evolutionary bottleneck.
Global warming is slowing and lessening, but critical actions are required to have a meaningful chance of preventing irreversible global warming from escalating to extinction-level warming. These actions include achieving carbon neutrality and transitioning globally to renewable green energy generation through a global mass mobilization effort.
Wild card: An unpredictable positive or negative factor that can drastically influence the outcome of a situation.
40th parallel north: A circle of latitude 45 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. (It is important because this is the current northern demarcation line for safer global warming migration zones.)
40th parallel south: A circle of latitude 45 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean, and South America. (This is the current southern demarcation line for safer global warming migration zones.)
Celsius-to-Fahrenheit conversions: These amounts are usually used to represent temperature increases above pre-Industrial (1760-1840) average global temperatures
Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e): A standard unit for measuring all greenhouse gases in terms of the amount of warming they create compared to CO2.
Job One for Humanity organization: A nonprofit social benefit organization whose mission is to provide accurate facts and strategies to its members and to the global warming educational movement to help this movement adjust its no longer appropriate strategies, to prepare for the unavoidable escalating global warming future of worsening catastrophes and, to avoid the later extinction-level phases of the Climageddon Scenario. (JobOneforHumanity.org)
Job One for Humanity Plan to end global warming: A comprehensive “first-things-first” plan using innovative remedial strategies and the best science available. It is a fully prioritized sequence of action steps designed to prepare individuals to survive what is to come and slow and mitigate global warming.
The great adaptive challenge, great evolutionary adventure: A positive perspective for viewing the current global warming emergency and challenge.
Eco-prepper: For those who may not be familiar with the term, a “prepper” is an individual who prepares in advance for potential future catastrophes. An eco-prepper is someone who prepares, in particular, for impending ecological catastrophes, seeking survival through sustainable prosperity practices and other important social and economic principles.
Most eco-preppers also see themselves as evolutioneers (someone who consciously helps evolve a better world, in part through the example of sustainable living before and after an ecological catastrophe like the escalating global warming emergency and its interrelated climate, human, and ecological consequences). Eco-preppers also see themselves as leaders (and communities) that quickly learn from and avoid repeating the same mistakes that caused the ecological catastrophe.
Irreversible global warming: This is perhaps the most crucial concept to grasp about climate change.
Irreversible global warming may be the most practical and essential definition to know concerning irreversible climate change. You have likely seen news about more severe, frequent, and larger-scale weather driven by global warming, such as powerful hurricanes and devastating wildfires in Northern California, across the West Coast, and across Europe and Asia. Unfortunately, what you are witnessing is the early phases of irreversible global warming, defined below.
We are now compelled to inform you of a new reality regarding the state of irreversible effects of global warming. In the 2016 book "Climageddon," it was stated that global warming was likely already irreversible.
No one wants to hear about the very bad news regarding climate change. But sometimes it's necessary to manage the situation and get to the good news. You are about to receive some concerning news about the current state of global warming and its level of irreversibility. However, the good news is that there is still hope and work to be done to protect your well-being and humanity's future.
What exactly is the state of irreversible global warming, and how long will it last?
Irreversible global warming is a state and condition of global warming created by and strengthened by:
a. rising greenhouse gases (carbon, methane, nitrous oxide) in the atmosphere,
b. rising temperatures,
c. the crossing of additional climate change and global warming tipping points, and
d. triggering multiple self-reinforcing positive feedback loops within the climate and its subsystems.
These factors, acting collectively and synergistically, cause the global climate to change until it reaches a new, higher temperature level that is irreversible on time scales far, far longer than the average human lifespan (centuries to thousands of years).
The state of irreversible global warming creates both of the following humanity-endangering consequences:
1. It will cause the Earth’s average global temperature to continue to increase. The distinct, unique, and relatively stable climate state that has enabled humanity to flourish over the last 10,000 years will be progressively lost over the next several decades. Additionally,
2. Many of the worst global warming and climate change primary and secondary consequences will also persist for decades to potentially centuries.
The really bad news is that the realistic time frame for sequestering (removing) the many gigatons of carbon (a dominant greenhouse gas that we have already added to our atmosphere since the industrial revolution) is now centuries to thousands of years. This, unfortunately, means that long after we stop polluting our atmosphere with burning fossil fuels, future generations will live in a "Hell on Earth" and curse our selfishness and stupidity.
The three phases of the state of irreversible global warming
Think of irreversible global warming in three distinct phases. Each stage has additional, more severe consequences that will last longer, causing greater global damage. With each phase, the unconscionable grows closer.
Phase 1: According to James Hansen, the world-renowned climate scientist, we entered the first phase of irreversible global warming in 2016, when we crossed the 386 ppm threshold of atmospheric carbon. Once we crossed that threshold, we were committed to a 1.5°C increase in average global temperature over pre-industrial levels. As a reference point, 350 ppm of carbon is the level humanity needs to stay below to ensure a safe and stable climate. Before the Industrial Revolution, the average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was approximately 270 parts per million (ppm).
Phase 2: Once humanity crossed the threshold of carbon dioxide from approximately 425 to 450 ppm, it entered what we call the second phase of irreversible global warming. In the second phase of irreversible global warming, we can’t stop carbon ppm levels from continuing to rise at approximately 2.7 to 3 ppm+ or more per year for at least another 30-50 years. Once we crossed that 425 ppm threshold, we were committed to a 2-2.7°C (or more) increase in average global temperature relative to pre-industrial levels.
Phase 3: Once humanity crosses the 450 ppm threshold and moves toward 500 ppm, 600 ppm, and 700 ppm and beyond, humanity is condemned to a future hell on Earth. Once we cross the 450 ppm threshold, we will be committed to an unsurvivable increase of 3 to 5 degrees C (or more) in average global temperature over pre-industrial levels for much of humanity. Worse yet, as this is the third and final phase of irreversible global warming, the average global temperature could rise significantly, with some newer forecasts predicting an increase of up to 12°C by 2100.
With each increasing phase of irreversible global warming, the bad news is that climate change also becomes increasingly irreversible for centuries to thousands of years. If you want to dive much deeper into the science, the phased timetables, and the many life-or-death consequences of irreversible global warming, please click here.
What does the current state of irreversible global warming mean to your future?
Due to extensive new climate change research findings, the gross miscalculations by the IPCC and other global warming authorities, the increase in average global warming temperatures, and the crossing of numerous bellwether tipping points, our organization now acknowledges and actively conveys the sobering fact that global warming has now entered a state of transitional irreversibility. But first, we must put this horrible climate news into an appropriate context to prepare you to respond in a balanced, rational, and hope-filled way.
Although rising global warming has now reached phase 2 irreversibility and many of its primary and secondary consequences will last for decades to centuries, we still have a significant amount of time left (approximately 5 to 10 years, if we are very lucky, 2025-2035) to prepare, adapt, build resilience, or migrate if appropriate to save ourselves and much of humanity and civilization as is possible. If you are not well prepared locally, in about 5 to 10 years, mass migration shifts driven by accelerating climate change, its escalating economic effects, and/or political destabilization will rapidly intensify across almost all areas of the world.
It is helpful to think about our condition of irreversible global warming, much like a slow-moving, planet-crippling-sized asteroid about 5-10 years away from colliding with Earth. It may be moving slowly, but it will cause a lot of damage; many unprepared people will perish, and only the foolish will not begin preparing for the inevitable arrival of the asteroid.
However, the good news is that if we are smart and move quickly to prepare and adapt, we can still mitigate or minimize the worst consequences of the coming years, thereby reducing suffering, financial losses, and deaths. That is a reasonable and rational response. Over the next 5 to 10 years (2025-2035), we can still significantly protect the quality of our lives, far longer than those who deny, ignore, or are unaware of this disheartening and irreversible current reality of global warming.
What do we have to do to end the current state of irreversible global warming?
Our current state of irreversible global warming does not have to be a permanent state, but it will be very difficult and painful to make the immediate and necessary changes to get us out of it. To do so, we must make VERY radical, immediate reductions in global fossil fuel use. There is no other solution that will work in time.
The many other solutions being proposed, without an immediate and radical reduction in global fossil fuel use, are too little, too late, with highly probable catastrophic global results. Our governments have failed to do this for 60 years, despite being aware of the long-term consequences of climate change. While we can hope that our governments will suddenly change course, it is unlikely, but there is some good news here.
Even though it's unlikely that our governments will act in time to save us from many of the worst consequences of climate change, the radical and painful actions of Mother Nature will most probably save us from ourselves and from total extinction. It is truly disheartening when we cannot rely on our elected politicians to protect us from the ultimate threat of mass to near-total extinction. We must now depend upon the natural processes of Mother Nature to save us and restore the climate balance that has nurtured us and he development of humanity for 10,000 years. Click here to read how the evolutionary actions of Mother Nature will save us from the obscene incompetence or inaction of our politicians and governments.
Why have we reached our current, irreversible Phase 2 state of global warming?
Phases 1 and 2 of irreversible global warming have occurred because:
1. For the last 60 years, nations, political systems, and politicians have been compromised by the wealth and multi-billion-dollar disinformation and misinformation campaigns of the global fossil fuel cartel.
2. The gross miscalculations by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC).
3. Our governments have also failed to act effectively to either slow or reverse global warming. This is despite 60+ years of loud and detailed warnings from credible climate scientists, verified scientific research, and 28 international conferences on how to address the global warming emergency. Politicians worldwide who have accepted large amounts of fossil fuel money have been the primary obstacle to initiating rational global reductions in fossil fuel use, which would save not just future generations but also their own children and later lives from untold suffering.
4. The reality of the minimum time needed to convert all global fossil fuel energy generation systems to green energy generation systems (currently about 35-50 years). This is not because adequate green technology doesn't exist!
5 We have crossed many known and unknown global warming tipping points over the last 30 + years within relevant climate systems and subsystems. This process inevitably condemns us to continue crossing even more perilous known and unknown global warming tipping points at ever-faster rates, year after year, as we attempt to transition to green energy systems and eliminate nearly all fossil fuel use over the next 30-50 years.
Understanding fossil fuel carbon (CO2) pollution of our atmosphere is essential to understanding our current state of irreversible global warming.
Viewing atmospheric carbon ppm measurements is the single best way to see both current and future global warming trends. Due to the laws of physics, if carbon continues to rise in the atmosphere, heat will increase. Despite what you may hear in the media, we are not making sufficient progress in reducing atmospheric carbon.
It is already terrible, and it is going to get much worse.
There are also minor monthly variations in carbon ppm levels, as well as cyclical weather variations driven by phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña. Despite such variations, the clearly dominant trend over the last 70 years is that carbon ppm is rising at an increasingly rapid rate.
At these current carbon levels, the stability of the bellwether West Antarctic ice sheet has already been breached and is now also irreversible. (The West Antarctic ice sheet is an excellent example of another critical global warming tipping point the world has hurdled past faster than anyone had foreseen.)
At the 450 ppm carbon threshold (which we will reach in approximately 6-8 years or less), we will continue to cross more of the 11 critical global warming tipping points across the climate’s various systems and subsystems, but at an even faster rate.
Once we cross the 500 ppm carbon threshold, all ice and glaciers on Earth will melt completely, and the oceans will eventually rise by 70 meters (230 feet). Crossing the 500 ppm carbon threshold has occurred repeatedly in Earth's geological history.
When we crossed this carbon ppm threshold, sea level began its rise into the 70-meter (230-foot) range. At our current annual carbon-emission rates, we will reach the catastrophic 500 ppm carbon threshold in about two dozen years or less.
The initial temperature range associated with triggering irreversible global warming is an increase in the average global temperature of about 1.5° Celsius, which, unfortunately, is already beyond where we are now, given all other “already baked in” and unchangeable global warming factors.
There is no way to fix our situation--only ways to survive it
To better understand why we are already committed to irreversible global warming, it is essential to examine the concept of committed global warming in more detail. It means there is already a "baked-in" average global temperature increase of about 1.5° to 2.7° Celsius, which the Earth has or will soon reach, and that it will not change for centuries, regardless of our actions. Worse yet, when we cross the 2°C range, it will be nearly impossible to prevent us from crossing the 3°C range, the 4°C range, and the 5°C range. At the 3°C range of increase in average global temperature only the strongest of current governments will remain stable. That's how bad the consequences will be that our current state of irreversible global warming creates.
This is due in significant part to:
a. the existing momentum of past carbon ppm already in the atmosphere,
b. the new carbon ppm per year that we will inevitably and invariably keep adding over the following 3-5 decades,
c. the already existing ocean warming,
d. the unknown crossed or soon-to-be-crossed new global warming tipping points, climate change feedback loops and,
e. the necessity of compensating mathematically for the grossly unrealistic calculations by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change based on their projections for a new “miracle technology” appearing in the second half of the 21st century for the mass removal of carbon or other greenhouse gases like methane or nitrous oxide from the atmosphere. This new “miracle technology” that will save us at the last minute is a false hope and delusional groupthink distortion of the worst kind. It undermines the urgency required to address and mitigate the climate change emergency effectively.
False promises for a nonexistent "miracle technology" that can't save us in time
Unfortunately for us, it is this currently non-existent, earnestly wished-for “miracle technology” that the IPPC’s 2015 Paris Agreement calculations relied most heavily on to keep our future average global temperature increases below their now unattainable 2 °C target. The mathematical, scientific, and mechanical feasibility (to adequately scale up the non-existent miracle technology), as well as the unknown negative side effects of this non-existent “miracle technology,” have already been debunked by respected climate scientists like Kevin Anderson. This nonexistent new technology will not reverse our current irreversible global warming emergency, no matter how many times famous billionaire techno-optimists like Bill Gates suggest we must believe and trust that it is coming. Click here for the whole story on the bogus carbon capture schemes of Silicon Valley.
The dangers of delusional groupthink on our survival
Most unfortunately of all, instead of telling the people of the world the difficult and necessary truth that we must immediately and radically cut back on fossil fuel usage to save both ourselves and future generations, the 2015 IPCC Paris agreement instead signaled:
“Don't worry, humanity, you don't have to give up any of your current comforts or even make any immediate, difficult, or costly changes in your existing fossil fuel-dependent lifestyles and business practices. A nonexistent new ‘miracle technology’ will magically appear sometime after 2050, which will allow us to suck all of those bad greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and miraculously save us long after we have already gone way past any safe levels for fossil fuel emissions."
This type of delusional groupthink and reliance upon a magical and non-existent miraculous new technology is only appropriate in children’s fairy tales—— never for vital scientific projections, particularly when those projections are the very projections which humanity and our civilization are relying upon for planning our future survival. Click here for the whole story about how climate change forecasts have been grossly underestimated using multiple methods.
Would you like to see the dangerous rise of human-caused carbon ppm in our atmosphere from a longer historical perspective?
The following graph illustrates the potential future problems associated with our currently rising carbon dioxide and carbon ppm levels in the atmosphere, over hundreds of thousands of years. As you can see in the last part of the graph, which is broken out in the smaller yellow box to better illustrate our last 1,000 years, we have clearly entered a whole new range of increased atmospheric carbon risk and threat exposure. We have transitioned from the long-term cyclical carbon ppm highs of the Ice Age — approximately 275 ppm — to over 425 ppm.
Image via Robert A. Rohdes, Wikimedia Commons. ( Parts per million by volume [ppmv] includes other pollutants and trace greenhouse gases, such as methane.)
For hundreds of thousands of years, throughout the various Ice Age cycles, we have consistently remained below the safe level for human civilization, approximately 275 parts per million by volume (ppmv) of carbon. However, since the beginning of our use of fossil fuels, starting with the Industrial Revolution, average global temperatures have risen to levels unseen for millions of years (approximately 1.5° to 2.7° Celsius), and atmospheric carbon levels have increased to 409 ppm today.
This is very detrimental to our futures and civilization, as mentioned above, because in 8-10 years or less, the atmospheric carbon ppm is expected to reach 450 ppm. This is roughly double the previous civilization's safe highest cyclical average over the last 400,000 years, at approximately 275 ppm carbon.
See this page for 30+ more good reasons why runaway global heating is irreversible and already well out of our control.
Please keep this bad news in perspective
Due to the onset of irreversible global warming, the processes leading to our extinction have accelerated. Despite this bad news, remember that if we can honestly face this new level of threat and act now, we still have time to prepare, adapt, and save most of humanity and its achievements. Moreover, we can also continue to live meaningful and enjoyable lives! See this page now if this blog post has upset you!
What can you do to wisely manage this not-so-good, irreversible global warming and climate change news?
1. Begin our comprehensive and practical Plan B for surviving and thriving through the climate change emergency by clicking here.
2. See the positive and hopeful "big picture" of climate change in global warming, the way we do by clicking here and viewing the most viewed page on our website with over 2 1/2 million views.
Methane time bomb: Popularly known as the clathrate gun hypothesis, an increase in sea temperature that triggers a sudden release of methane from seabeds and permafrost, leading to an irreversible temperature rise. There is evidence of these occurrences in the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum extinction event, which occurred 55.5 million years ago, and the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which occurred 252 million years ago. (Please click here to watch a short video that brilliantly explains the extinction process once we start releasing methane clathrate from our coastal shelves. New research shows we actually begin this release process once we reach 5°C, and by 6°C it is in full bloom.)
Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) extinction event: A warming event 55.5 million years ago in which gigatons of carbon and methane were released into the atmosphere after the global temperature rose 5 °C. It resulted in the extinction of roughly 70,000 species and is the most recent and accurate event within Earth's geologic history to compare to today's global warming.
Sixth Great Extinction: Also known as the Holocene or Anthropocene extinction, this refers to the ongoing extinction event occurring during our present Holocene epoch, primarily due to human activities, particularly global warming. At present, the rate of extinction is estimated to be up to 140,000 species per year—the greatest loss of biodiversity since the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.
Keystone tipping point: A tipping point that triggers other dependent and interconnected tipping points. Crossing a keystone tipping point is one of the potential triggers for irreversible global warming, leading into the later extinction phases of the Climageddon Scenario.
.
The perfect storm of perfect storms: The process of multiple global warming tipping points crossing over to degrade and destabilize climate, human, and biological systems and subsystems in a self-reinforcing positive feedback loop and meltdown.
Climate change: Refugees from areas stricken by the various consequences of global warming, floods, droughts and crop failures.
Runaway global warming: Global warming will continue to increase on an irreversible, runaway course. Like the definition of irreversible global warming, imagine a train going down a steep hill with no functional brakes. Once the runaway global warming "train" gets started, in most cases, it will continue to roll on its own, with no practical way to stop or control it.
There are several phases to runaway global warming. These phases of runaway global warming are described here in terms of the four extinction-level climate tipping points. The different phases or levels of a runaway global heating-driven extinction are defined as:
1. The beginning level of runaway global warming is defined as the point where numerous climate change and global warming consequences become catastrophic and unavoidable! For example, the UN's new 1.5 °C climate cliff temperature threshold now means that because of what just the beginning level of runaway global warming can do, going above the 1.5 °C level will eventually lead to the extinction of about half of humanity by mid-century. James Hansen, the world-renowned climate scientist, stated that we had entered the first phase of runaway global warming when humanity crossed the 386 PPM carbon threshold in 1986. (This link will show you how this mass extinction event will happen.)
2. The mid-phase near-total extinction level runaway global warming is the level of runaway global warming that will ensure humanity's near-total extinction.
3. The final phase of global heating is also referred to as the runaway greenhouse effect or Venus-level runaway global warming. This final phase describes the circumstance in which the climate destabilizes catastrophically and permanently from its original state. Venus-level runaway global warming will be so bad that it rips the atmosphere off our planet. As a result, the Earth will lose all human and biological life. This level of runaway global warming is believed to have happened to the planet Venus when it lost its atmosphere into space. This is thought to have happened to Venus 4 billion years ago, resulting in a carbon-rich atmosphere and surface temperatures as low as 462° C.
Extinction-level global warming: There are three levels of climate-driven extinction-level global warming to be concerned about:
-
- Mass extinction: We have been so grossly ineffective in slowing and reversing global heating for so long that about half of the human population will die by mid-century. This mass extinction is unavoidable because of our 60 years of climate inaction, ineffective action, and denial.
- Near-total human extinction: A global heating-driven near-total human extinction is a scenario where as much as 50-90+% of humanity could go extinct before we slow and reverse the current runaway global heating. (The processes of near-total extinction are partially described in the first three extinction-accelerating tipping points on this page and then on this page.)
- Total human extinction: A global heating-driven total human extinction can occur only if we allow atmospheric carbon levels to rise to 800-1700 parts per million (ppm). At those levels, we risk our atmosphere being pulled out into space, and 100% of everything else that depends upon oxygen suffocating and going entirely extinct.
The total extinction term is associated with temperatures exceeding pre-industrial levels by 5-6 °C (9-10.8°F). Extinction-level global warming begins as early as phase 4 or phase 5 of the Climageddon Scenario. If our atmosphere is also lost in the final stages of phase 6 of the Climageddon Scenario, this will result in the extinction of almost ALL planetary life.
Additional essential climate change and global warming definitions and related concepts:
There are certain other, more complex essential climate change terms you will eventually need to understand to understand the current climate emergency and the climate science and climate research papers that have predicted it. At some point, we recommend that you look up each of the following terms on Wikipedia. Their definitions are comprehensive, with illustrations on these complex climate science issues:
In summary
When the public considers all the above facts regarding the causes and conditions behind the new, irreversible global warming reality, critical-thinking individuals and organizations will agree that we have, in fact, already entered a new state of irreversible global warming. Unfortunately, that also condemns us to endless chains of disastrous consequences and new crossed global warming tipping points.
Want information on how you can protect your family, business, and nation from the looming global warming catastrophes?
If you are interested in understanding the climate science and analysis procedures we used to present the above information, click here for a technical explanation of our climate research process.