FOR me, tipping points are one of the scariest aspects of climate change.
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To get an idea of tipping points, imagine yourself sitting in a chair which you slowly push backwards.
At one point you will be just balanced; if you push further you will end up on your back on the floor.
The tipping point is the point of no return - up until then, beforehand, you can right yourself, but afterwards, you're definitely going to fall.
So it is with climate change.
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Here's an example. Being white, the ice at the poles, and in glaciers, reflects a lot of light and heat back into space.
Greenhouse gases like CO2 cause some of this heat to be retained, warming our climate and the oceans, causing some of the ice to melt. The polar ice sheets are already contracting.
Once the ice is gone, you are left with land or open ocean, darker areas that absorb more heat than reflective ice. This contributes to further warming, and more ice melting.
At some point the warming is predicted to continue rapidly and the rest of the ice will melt, regardless of what we do to stop it. That's a climate tipping point.
There's a lot of research being done on predicting various tipping points. They are complex and interrelated, but based on observations and predictions, the melting of Arctic sea ice is the tipping point we are most likely to encounter, and it may occur at between 1.5 and 2 degrees of global warming (we're already around 1 degree).
This would lead to sea level rises affecting Sydney, London and New York.
There are other types of tipping points that could affect ice in Antarctica and Greenland, the Amazon and other rainforests, some ocean currents, and weather systems like the monsoons.
There is another kind of tipping point - that which comes into play when the adverse effects of climate inaction cause the electorate to use their voting powers to change governments, or government policy.
Recent events here in Australia may be doing this right now, with people joining the climate movement in increasing numbers.
And that is a good thing, because urgent action is needed from governments worldwide to avoid these catastrophic tipping points.
Did you know? Last year Iceland held a funeral for one of its glaciers, the Okjokull, that completely melted after the warmest July on record.
