The Story Climate change is real, and it’s accelerating faster than we’d like to admit. Sweltering summers, intense storms, rising sea levels and fierce wildfires — all of this is happening around us while some of us sit inside air-conditioned rooms and barely notice. But the thing is, we can't brush these phenomena under the carpet and continue warming the earth without consequences.
If we do, we could risk hitting climate tipping points or critical environmental thresholds we can’t afford to cross. At these points, huge environmental shifts could become irreversible, spiralling into a self-sustaining cycle that could put climate deterioration on autopilot. Imagine a ball perched on a hill.
Once it tips over, it rolls down faster and faster, without any push and no way to stop it. Think about how disappearing could threaten fish species and marine life. These undersea animals build massive, colourful structures that are home to nearly a quarter of all marine fish.
They also help create sand for islands and protect coastlines from storm surges. But rising temperatures and pollution are causing coral to die off rapidly. And at this rate, reefs could disappear by 2050, taking their vital ecological benefits with them.
Then there’s melting permafrost, which could worsen global warming. If you’re wondering what that is, it’s simply a layer of soil, rock, and sediment in Siberia, Alaska, and Canada that acts as the Earth’s freezer. It stores carbon from ancient pla.
