Greenhouse Gases Have Already

Reached Dangerous Tipping Point

Climate change, or global warming, is the greatest environmental threat we've ever faced. How we
respond to this crisis will greatly impact both current and future generations and all other species.

The global carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has exceeded 400
parts per million (NOAA). (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report) This level is considered a
tipping point.

"There is alarming evidence that important tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in major
ecosystems and the planetary climate system, may already have been reached or passed. Ecosystems as
diverse as the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic tundra, for example, may be approaching thresholds of
dramatic change through warming and drying. Mountain glaciers are in alarming retreat and the
downstream effects of reduced water supply in the driest months will have repercussions that transcend
generations. Climate feedback systems and environmental cumulative effects are building across Earth
systems demonstrating behaviours we cannot anticipate.

"The potential for runaway greenhouse warming is real and has never been more present. The most
dangerous climate changes may still be avoided if we transform our hydrocarbon based energy systems
and if we initiate rational and adequately financed adaptation programmes to forestall disasters and
migrations at unprecedented scales. The tools are available, but they must be applied immediately and
aggressively. (UNEP).

Global temperatures are now the highest in 4,000 years.

Open Letter Regarding Climate Change From Concerned Members of the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences"

"We are certain beyond a reasonable doubt, however, that the problem of human-caused climate
change is real, serious, and immediate, and that this problem poses significant risks: to our ability to
thrive and build a better future, to national security, to human health and food production, and to the
interconnected web of living systems… From studies of changes in temperature and sea level over the
last million years, we know that the climate system has tipping points. Our proximity to these tipping
points is uncertain. We know, however, that rapid warming of the planet increases the risk of crossing
climatic points of no return, possibly setting in motion large-scale ocean circulation changes, the loss of
major ice sheets, and species extinctions."