by Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee
July 13, 2025
Human-induced climate change has now crossed at least nine critical tipping points, each triggering irreversible shifts in the Earth's climate system. These tipping points are not isolated; they are interconnected, and their cascading effects amplify each other in a self-reinforcing feedback loop that accelerates global climate disruption.
The nine tipping points include:
Greenland Ice Sheet Collapse
West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse
Labrador-Irminger Seas / SPG Convection Collapse
East Antarctic Subglacial Basins Collapse
Arctic Winter Sea Ice Collapse
East Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse
Amazon Rainforest Dieback
Boreal Permafrost Collapse
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) Collapse
These are not in strict chronological order, as the tipping points are dynamically interconnected, but the sequence of total collapse impacts the severity and global reach of the consequences.
As my colleague Sidd noted, "Number 7 might be first."
For decades, Sidd and I have researched the ozone feedback loop, an often-overlooked but critical piece of the climate crisis puzzle. Ozone, a byproduct of carbon combustion, does not act as a greenhouse gas itself but severely disrupts the Earth's ability to manage greenhouse gases indirectly.
Tropospheric ozone pollution damages the stomata of plant leaves, which are microscopic openings essential for absorbing CO₂ during photosynthesis. This impairment drastically reduces plant productivity, health, and growth, weakening one of the planet's most vital carbon sinks. Recent studies indicate that ozone poisoning has already reduced the productivity of plant CO₂ absorption by approximately 30%, undermining the natural carbon removal capacity of the Amazon and other forests.
As the Amazon's ability to sequester carbon weakens, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to higher temperatures and intensified droughts, which are themselves driven by regional deforestation and climate change. Ozone-induced reductions in CO₂ uptake further weaken tree health, making the forest more susceptible to wildfires, pest outbreaks, and large-scale mortality.
Once the Amazon crosses its tipping threshold, large-scale dieback becomes irreversible, releasing immense quantities of stored carbon from vegetation and soils into the atmosphere. This shifts the Amazon from being a powerful carbon sink to a significant carbon source, accelerating global warming and reinforcing a destructive feedback loop that drives further regional drying and forest decline.
The Amazon also plays a critical role in recycling water across South America. As forest cover declines, this water recycling function weakens, reducing rainfall locally and regionally, amplifying drought, and hastening the ecosystem's collapse. If current trends continue, the Amazon is poised to transform from the world's largest carbon sink into a catastrophic carbon emitter, with devastating consequences for global climate stability and biodiversity.
These tipping points are no longer theoretical warnings--they are unfolding in real time, compounding their effects and accelerating systemic collapse. Each tipping point increases the likelihood of crossing additional tipping points, fueling the domino effect of climate destabilization.
From the loss of polar ice sheets raising sea levels, to the collapse of ocean circulation patterns disrupting weather and food systems, to the dieback of the Amazon intensifying warming and reducing rainfall, these interlinked crises are now reshaping our world at a pace faster than traditional models predicted.
We are witnessing the transition from linear climate change to non-linear, system-wide collapse. It is critical for policymakers, scientists, and the public to recognize that mitigation and adaptation strategies must account for these cascading tipping points to avoid deeper, irreversible damage to the Earth's systems and human civilization.
Updates on Interactions and Feedbacks Broue (2025)
Tipping Cascades: The Nonlinear Dominoes of Climate Collapse Brouse and Mukherjee (2025)
Read: Solutions to the Fossil Fuel Economy and the Myths Accelerating Climate and Economic Collapse Brouse *2025)
Philadelphia's Heat Dome: Wet-Bulb Temperatures Signal a Climate Tipping Point Brouse (2025)
Burning to Stay Cool: How Our Fight Against Heat Is Fueling Climate Collapse Brouse (2025)
Polar Vortex Disruptions, Rossby Waves, and a New Threats to the Stratosphere: Why Our Jet Streams Are Becoming Unrecognizable Brouse (2025)
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Climate Change and Deadly Humid Heat Brouse (2023)
Climate Change: Rate of Acceleration Brouse and Mukherjee (2023-2024)