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Tipping points: Window to avoid irreversible climate impacts is 'rapidly closing'
(www.carbonbrief.org)
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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That point was passed decades ago.
This isn’t just doomerism, this is ahistorical and unscientific. Changing course in 2005 or earlier would have us in a completely different world.
Feeling despair when the planet is burning is understandable and normal, but this is a prime example of a cognitive distortion. Every ton of greenhouse gases that doesn’t enter the atmosphere is harm reduced. 2.9 degrees C is better than 3.0, which is better than 3.1, and on and on.
Most importantly, the message being given out by actual climate scientists in this very article is that action is most important now, in the next decade, not that everything is already over. Insisting we’re already cooked is like laying down to die when you can see the end of the tunnel.
Completely different world, yes. Preventing irreversible climate impacts, no.
Of course the most important thing we can do from now on is always action now rather than looking back on what could have been, but IMO it's critical to the credibility of climate scientists to be honest about the damage that has already been done. Articles like these make it sound like it's all made up because the window has been "rapidly closing" since 1960.
The average life expectancy will drop by a decade compared to where it is now in 2025. It is too late to prevent that. Over a billion people will die from famine, climate disaster, or the disease and war that result from people trying to escape hunger and climate disaster. We have to make peace with that and make clear that these deaths are the result of people's inaction.
If we continue the current course for even just the next decade, life expectancy will drop by another two decades. Billions more will die. That is worth fighting to prevent with every fiber of our being.