AMOC (Atlantic ocean circulation) influences 45% of all tipping point interactions.
If it collapses:
* Severe cooling in North Atlantic
* Altered rainfall globally
* Monsoon disruption (5B people affected)
* UK arable land: 32% → 7%
One system failure cascades into others. That's the hidden danger.
But positive tipping points are REAL & happening:
🔋 Battery costs: ⬇️84% in decade
🚗 Norway: nearly 100% EV sales
☀️ Solar/wind: exponential adoption
When sustainable becomes cheaper + easier + more desirable than the old way, entire systems tip. Markets follow incentives.
Strongest lever for change? Policy mandates with hard deadlines.
Ban petrol car sales by [date]. Require heat pumps over gas boilers. Phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
Clear signals coordinate investment, R&D, and entire supply chains instantly. Much faster than waiting for markets alone.
Social tipping matters too: visible, copied behaviours like cycling, plant-rich diets, and community-led restoration. When normal shifts, systems shift.
This is fundamentally about justice. Small island states face total uninhabitability. 5 billion depend on monsoons we're destabilizing. Those who contributed least to the crisis face the worst impacts.
Any solution that doesn't center equity, human rights & community governance isn't a real solution.
We need BOTH: emergency brake on catastrophic tipping points + accelerator on positive ones.
Listen to full episode—it'll change how you see this moment.
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction #ClimateEmergency #Sustainability #EnvironmentalJustice #SystemsThinking #Degrowth #JustTransition #RegenerativeAgriculture
Available for Broadcast on PRX
https://exchange.prx.org/p/596069
