In the 2009 film Age of Stupid, the late Pete Postlethwaite plays a lonely man stuck on a man-made island in the middle of an ocean in 2055, as he looks back at the ‘Age of Stupid’, the era that we are living through now. He explains how bad choices that humans made, led to the end of human civilisation as it had been known. Not only will a future historian, if any of them are left, look back at the mistakes we have made, but surely, they will also outline and analyse the tipping points that made Climate Change so dangerous.
Climate tipping points
Climate tipping points are reached when the change in the climate has caused something irreversible to happen and can often lead directly to further climate change and ultimately runaway greenhouse effect.
Examples of tipping points that could come in the near future are an ice-free Arctic Ocean, which would increase global heating by reflecting less heat than the ice does at present and the complete melting of the tundra in northern Russia and Canada, which will release methane currently trapped under the permafrost. Methane, like carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas and while it doesn’t stay in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide it is over twenty times more powerful than its counterpart.
First tipping point reached
Scientists and climate experts have for a long time warned about what might happen in the future if and when these climate tipping points are reached. In the future…
However, not all these dangerous tipping points are now in the future, as it was reported by The Guardian on 13th October, that according to a new report, Earth has now reached its first catastrophic tipping point linked to greenhouse gas emissions, as warm water coral reefs are now facing a long-term decline, so risking the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
It is noted that “the report from scientists and conservationists warns the world is also “on the brink” of reaching other tipping points, including the dieback of the Amazon, the collapse of major ocean currents and the loss of ice sheets”.
Ever since January 2003, coral reefs have been in the midst of a global bleaching event. And nor is this the first such event on record, but the fourth and worst, with more than 80% of reefs in more than 80 countries affected by extreme ocean temperatures. Scientists say the event has tipped the reefs into “uncharted territory”.
Interestingly, a leading coral reef scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia, Prof Pete Mumby said that he “accepted reefs were in decline but there was emerging evidence corals could adapt with some reefs remaining viable even at 2C of global heating”.
Mumby said that coral reefs needed improved local management and “aggressive” action on climate change, but he was “concerned some would interpret the report as saying coral reef habitats were heading for collapse, which was a position he did not support”. Mumby said that he was concerned that society would “give up on coral reefs” if people thought they could no longer be rescued.
The report which has been released ahead of the COP 30 meeting in Brazil next month, shows that breaking this limit is anything but symbolic. The ever-hotter climate is likely to start triggering more tipping points around the world and causing changes that are very difficult to come back from.
The report lead was Professor Tim Lenton, who heads up the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, and he commented:
“We are rapidly approaching multiple Earth system tipping points that could transform our world, with devastating consequences for people and nature,” Tim explains. “This demands immediate, unprecedented action from leaders at COP30 and policymakers worldwide.”
“In the two years since the first Global Tipping Points Report, there has been a radical global acceleration in some areas, including the uptake of solar power and electric vehicles. But we need to do more – and move faster – to seize positive tipping point opportunities.”
“By doing so, we can drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions and tip the world away from catastrophic tipping points and towards a thriving, sustainable future.”
Where is the urgency?
Well, here we go then. The first of the climate tipping points has been reached. There are now no excuses left for humanity not to act and no good reason why anybody should believe the falsehoods of the climate change deniers.
And yet, you may well ask, where is the urgency from either the public or governments around the world? We are entrusted to be good stewards of creation, but we seem incapable of showing the responsibility that is needed.
The momentum that was built up by the Fridays for the Future demonstrations six years ago, has long since dissipated, seemingly another victim of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile Trump has been re-elected President of the United States, promising to drill, baby drill, while our own Labour government, which at one time seemed to want to spend £28 billion in what was effectively was a green new deal in all but name, has “pledged that oil and gas would play an important role in the economy “for decades to come” as the UK transitions to clean energy”.
It was also reported in mid-October that UN data shows that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had risen by a record amount in 2024 to hit another high, so “ deepening the climate crisis that is already taking lives and livelihoods across the world”. When the ‘Age of Stupid’ film was released in 2009, it might have seemed that the title was a bit unfair and that it was perhaps even scaremongering. Not now, it doesn’t.
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