Warning Signs of Collapse
Chaos, then catastrophe. Researchers have found that one of the signs that an ecosystem is about to collapse is that things become more volatile—for instance, the amount of chlorophyll in a lake rapidly spikes and plunges. Global climate change is causing something similar: extreme weather events like hurricanes and droughts have grown more frequent. Even flights are facing more turbulence. Discuss with your team: what should we do if the climate passes a point of no return? Would it be okay to spend fewer resources on fighting climate change if the battle is already lost?
Key concepts
- Critical Slowing Down
- As a system nears collapse it wobbles more wildly and takes longer to recover from small knocks — a lake's chlorophyll swinging up and down, weather growing more extreme. Scientists read this rising instability as an early-warning sign that a breakdown is coming.
+ 2 more concepts inside
What to know
-
01
What if the climate passes a point of no return — do we stop fighting? The science cuts against surrender: because harm scales with every degree and every year of overshoot, 'the battle is lost' is never all-or-nothing — there is always a worse outcome left to prevent, so effort still buys a less-bad world even past a threshold.
Across subjects
Theme connection
"Are We There Yet?"
Practice — a sample
SCICrossing a climate 'tipping point' like an AMOC shutdown is BEST described as —
- A A local event
- B A gradual, reversible shift
- C Abrupt, self-sustaining change
- D A seasonal cycle
- E A measurement artifact
Sign in to answer and see why each option is right or wrong.
Keep reading the full lesson
The remaining insights, works, and practice come with full access — $9.99/month or $29.99/season.
Unlock full access →New here? Create a free account to read the free section.