Cascading Effects

The most frightening aspect of tipping points is that they may be interconnected. Crossing one could trigger others in a cascade. Melting Arctic ice accelerates Greenland melting. Greenland meltwater slows the AMOC. A slowed AMOC shifts rainfall patterns. Shifted rainfall stresses the Amazon.

The cascade risk means warming and damage are not linear. A world at 3 degrees is not fifty percent worse than one at 2 degrees — it could be catastrophically worse if the additional degree triggers interconnected tipping points that multiply each other's effects.