Numerous tipping points have come and gone.

“unless drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gases are taken within the next 10 years, the world will reach a point of no return.”

love that Bernie swept three states yesterday by huge margins, and when I turned on CNN this morning it was literally an hour of them talking about does Donald Trump get too much media coverage; why do we let him play us like this

"What's bad about it"

"It's not that bad, it's no big deal!"

"There's nothing we can do"

"the climate is always changing"

"it will cost too much"

"species are always dying off, there will be new ones to take their place"

I assume their viewpoint has been well researched. NOT!

healyje posted:
And that risk is compounded by the fact that in industrialized societies the microbiome basis for our immune systems has narrowed in its own species profile thus affording us far less protection from infection and disease than cultures living closer to the earth

Anthropogenic carbon release rate unprecedented during the past 66 million years
Richard E. Zeebe 1*, Andy Ridgwell 2,3 and James C. Zachos 4

Carbon release rates from anthropogenic sources reached a record high of ∼10 Pg C yr−1in 2014. Geologic analogues from pasttransient climate changes could provide invaluable constraints on the response of the climate system to such perturbations, butonly if the associated carbon release rates can be reliably reconstructed. The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)is known at present to have the highest carbon release rates of the past 66 million years, but robust estimates of the initialrate and onset duration are hindered by uncertainties in age models. Here we introduce a new method to extract rates ofchange from a sedimentary record based on the relative timing of climate and carbon cycle changes, without the need foran age model. We apply this method to stable carbon and oxygen isotope records from the New Jersey shelf using time-series analysis and carbon cycle–climate modelling. We calculate that the initial carbon release during the onset of the PETMoccurred over at least 4,000 years. This constrains the maximum sustained PETM carbon release rate to less than 1.1 Pg C yr−1. We conclude that, given currently available records, the present anthropogenic carbon release rate is unprecedented duringthe past 66 million years. We suggest that such a ‘no-analogue’ state represents a fundamental challenge in constraining future climate projections. Also, future ecosystem disruptions are likely to exceed the relatively limited extinctions observed at the PETM.

The initial carbon release during the PETM onset thus occurred over at least 4,000 yr. Using estimates of 2,500-4,500 Pg C for the initial carbon release, the maximum sustained PETM carbon release rate was therefore 0.6-1.1 Pg C yr. Given currently available palaeorecords, we conclude that the present anthropogenic carbon release rate (10 Pg C yr) is unprecedented during the Cenozoic (past 66 Myr).... Regarding impacts on ecosystems, the present/future rate of climate change and ocean acidification is too fast for many species to adapt, which is likely to result in widespread future extinctions in marine and terrestrial environments that will substantially exceed those at the PETM. Given that the current rate of carbon release is unprecedented throughout the Cenozoic, we have effectively entered an era of a no-analogue state, which represents a fundamental challenge to constraining future climate projections.

“unless drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gases are taken within the next 10 years, the world will reach a point of no return.”

I would say another priority we should pursue is to protect our power grids from Electro-Magnetic Pulse damage.

...and far better than any opportunity that has arisen in my lifetime.