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Feedback-Phase-Best-Of.mp3
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
[Verse 2]
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
[Outro]
ABOUT THE SONG
If multiple tipping points reinforce each other, the climate may enter a self-perpetuating heating cycle beyond human control. The main candidates include:
Temperature outcomes:
The permafrost offers one of the clearest examples of the widening gap between theory and reality:
This introduces new scientific uncertainties:
The key point is clear: the pace of greenhouse gas release is orders of magnitude faster than earlier models assumed. These feedbacks are not hypothetical–they are already active.
Permafrost fires are only one piece of the puzzle. Another, less understood feedback arises from tropospheric ozone. While CO2 is essential for photosynthesis, fossil fuel combustion does not just add CO2–it also drives chemical reactions that increase ground-level ozone, a powerful phytotoxin. Unlike protective stratospheric ozone, tropospheric ozone damages living tissues, including crops, forests, and grasslands.
Decades of research show that ozone exposure can reduce plant growth by 10-40%, depending on species and exposure levels. In many cases, ozone exposure doesn’t merely stunt growth–it kills plants outright, either through direct poisoning of leaves and roots or by weakening their resilience to drought, heat, pests, and disease. This compounds ecosystem vulnerability, undermining the agricultural and natural systems that sustain humanity.
These feedbacks are deeply interconnected. Fossil fuel combustion increases CO2, which drives warming, while simultaneously producing tropospheric ozone, a potent plant toxin. In fact, all forms of carbon combustion generate ozone precursors — and less efficient forms, such as ethanol and other plant-based fuels, can produce even more ozone per unit of energy released due to incomplete combustion. Ozone-stressed ecosystems lose resilience, making them more vulnerable to drought, pests, and wildfire. Wildfires then feed back by releasing massive amounts of CO2 and generating additional ozone, compounding the stress on vegetation. These intertwined feedbacks are pushing Earth toward a state of compound, cascading instability, where multiple reinforcing processes accelerate climate disruption beyond linear prediction.
* Our probabilistic, ensemble-based climate model — which incorporates complex socio-economic and ecological feedback loops within a dynamic, nonlinear system — projects that global temperatures are becoming unsustainable this century. This far exceeds earlier estimates of a 4°C rise over the next thousand years, highlighting a dramatic acceleration in global warming. We are now entering a phase of compound, cascading collapse, where climate, ecological, and societal systems destabilize through interlinked, self-reinforcing feedback loops.
From the album “Unfazed“
By Feedback-Phase-Best-Of.mp3
[Intro]
[Verse 1]
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
[Verse 2]
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
[Outro]
ABOUT THE SONG
If multiple tipping points reinforce each other, the climate may enter a self-perpetuating heating cycle beyond human control. The main candidates include:
Temperature outcomes:
The permafrost offers one of the clearest examples of the widening gap between theory and reality:
This introduces new scientific uncertainties:
The key point is clear: the pace of greenhouse gas release is orders of magnitude faster than earlier models assumed. These feedbacks are not hypothetical–they are already active.
Permafrost fires are only one piece of the puzzle. Another, less understood feedback arises from tropospheric ozone. While CO2 is essential for photosynthesis, fossil fuel combustion does not just add CO2–it also drives chemical reactions that increase ground-level ozone, a powerful phytotoxin. Unlike protective stratospheric ozone, tropospheric ozone damages living tissues, including crops, forests, and grasslands.
Decades of research show that ozone exposure can reduce plant growth by 10-40%, depending on species and exposure levels. In many cases, ozone exposure doesn’t merely stunt growth–it kills plants outright, either through direct poisoning of leaves and roots or by weakening their resilience to drought, heat, pests, and disease. This compounds ecosystem vulnerability, undermining the agricultural and natural systems that sustain humanity.
These feedbacks are deeply interconnected. Fossil fuel combustion increases CO2, which drives warming, while simultaneously producing tropospheric ozone, a potent plant toxin. In fact, all forms of carbon combustion generate ozone precursors — and less efficient forms, such as ethanol and other plant-based fuels, can produce even more ozone per unit of energy released due to incomplete combustion. Ozone-stressed ecosystems lose resilience, making them more vulnerable to drought, pests, and wildfire. Wildfires then feed back by releasing massive amounts of CO2 and generating additional ozone, compounding the stress on vegetation. These intertwined feedbacks are pushing Earth toward a state of compound, cascading instability, where multiple reinforcing processes accelerate climate disruption beyond linear prediction.
* Our probabilistic, ensemble-based climate model — which incorporates complex socio-economic and ecological feedback loops within a dynamic, nonlinear system — projects that global temperatures are becoming unsustainable this century. This far exceeds earlier estimates of a 4°C rise over the next thousand years, highlighting a dramatic acceleration in global warming. We are now entering a phase of compound, cascading collapse, where climate, ecological, and societal systems destabilize through interlinked, self-reinforcing feedback loops.
From the album “Unfazed“