Report: Prepare for climate tipping points

By Andrew Restuccia

Climate change isn’t just a problem facing future generations, a new scientific report warns, saying the planet could suffer serious and abrupt climate threats in the next few years or decades — leaving nations with a narrow window to adapt.

The National Research Council report, released Tuesday, says even gradual climate changes that have unfolded over centuries will reach so-called tipping points that could result in abrupt impacts on everything from sea ice to ecosystems. The report calls for an “early warning system” aimed at better predicting when those impacts will occur.

“Right now we don’t know what many of these thresholds are,” James White, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and chairman of the committee that wrote the report, said in a statement. “But with better information, we will be able to anticipate some major changes before they occur and help reduce the potential consequences.”

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