7 Tipping Points That Could Transform Earth

When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its last report in 2007, environmental tipping points were a footnote. A troubling footnote, to be sure, but the science was relatively new and unsettled. Straightforward global warming was enough to worry about. But when the IPCC meets in 2014, tipping points — or tipping elements, in academic vernacular — will get much more attention. Scientists still disagree about which planetary systems are extra-sensitive to climate shifts, but the possibility can’t be ignored. “The problem with tipping elements is that if any of them tips, it will be a real catastrophe. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/tipping-elements/all/1