The Byte, by Sharon Adarlo:
Reaping and Sowing
Imagine this dire scenario: the Atlantic Ocean’s sea currents which bring warm water to Europe collapses, making large swaths of the continent as cold as the Arctic Circle.
In a grim turn, that’s just the scenario that a team of European scientists are warning about in a new study in the journal Nature Communications: that this catastrophic collapse — along with the ruination of the Amazon rainforest and the melting of polar ice — is on track to actually happen if we continue along our current path.
Specifically, the scientists say these major Earth systems, important for keeping the global climate stable for human civilization, face a 45 percent or greater chance of collapsing in the next 300 years, even if we temporarily bring back global warming below the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold. Worse, the collapse may be irreversible.
The researchers modeled a range of climate policies on carbon emission rates, while inputting climate data on the Amazon rainforest, polar ice in Greenland and West Antarctica, and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which regulates the flow of warm water from the tropics to Europe.
“Domestic policies to reduce emissions need to be adopted and implemented, not only pledged, and a more significant and urgent effort is needed to mitigate the risks associated with tipping elements,” the scientists write.
Collapse Store
Needless to say, this all sounds pretty bad. The effects from the slowing and eventual collapse of the Atlantic currents will be dire to agriculture in Europe, where it will become harder to grow anything.
And pushed by global warming, the likely melting of polar ice caps and transformation of the Amazon rainforest into dry savanna would worsen an already bad situation.
The scientists call for urgently bringing carbon emissions to zero, which would stave off the worst effects of climate change. Even that doesn’t feel like a sure thing, especially with the energy intensive rush into AI and petrostates like Saudi Arabia blocking policies to wean the world off fossil fuels.
What’s there to do? It’s not all bad news, with various states and countries increasing solar power generation and other scientists working on carbon capture technologies, among other green technologies.
Some researchers are even going as far as to set up experiments on geoengineering, shooting particles into the atmosphere to dim the Sun — though it’s a sign of desperation that such an idea is even under consideration.
Prophetic Link:
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Romans 8:22
Comments
Maureen Franklin
Friday October 4th, 2024 at 05:29 AMNo matter what the scientists discover the systems of this world will continue to function until the Lord withdraws His sustaining power. No matter how chaotic nature and the affairs of the human race become God will keep His people until Jesus comes in the clouds to take them home. Then and only then will there be a complete complete collapse of the earth’s systems. Meanwhile the signs in nature (the groaning of creation) and the upheaval in society all tell us that Jesus is coming soon!! Isaiah 26:20 & 25:9. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus because this world is not our home. We are indeed just passing through!!! God you all dear friends
William Stroud
Friday October 4th, 2024 at 01:54 PMCheck out Planet In Distress by Christiansen. He speaks about this and does a nice job of it. Bottom line from his book…it’s not what’s coming but Whom is coming.