The world recently passed the point where carbon-dioxide emissions have raised the level of that gas in the atmosphere to 400 parts per million.
By no coincidence a group of scientists around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems, and climate-change may be driving Earth toward an irreversible change in the biosphere, a global tipping-point that would have destructive consequences unless we do something.
'It really will be a new world, biologically, at that point,' warns Anthony Barnosky, professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author of a review paper appearing in the June 7 issue of the journal <i>Nature.</i> 'The data suggests that there will be a reduction in biodiversity and severe impacts on much of what we depend on to sustain our quality of life, including, for example, fisheries, agriculture, forest products and clean water. This could happen within just a few generations.'
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America's winters have already been tipped into a new era. The dramatic melt-off of Arctic sea-ice due to climate-change is hitting closer to home than millions of Americans might think, because melting Arctic sea ice can trigger a domino effect that leads to greater odds of severe winter weather outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere's middle latitudes -- such as the 'Snowmageddon' storm that hamstrung Washington, D.C. in February 2010.
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And Arctic tundra is being replaced by trees. In just a few decades shrubs have turned into trees as a result of the warming Arctic climate, creating patches of forest which, if replicated across the tundra, would significantly accelerate global warming.
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