There are psychological barriers to even imagining that what we love so much could be lost — could be destroyed forever.
If trends continue, the global temperature will keep rising, triggering “world-altering events,” Kolbert writes.
“By disrupting these systems,” Kolbert writes, “we’re putting our own survival in danger.”The earth’s water cycle is being dangerously disturbed, as warmer oceans evaporate more water vapor into the air.
The extra heat is also absorbed in the top layer of the seas, which makes ocean-based storms more destructive.
They struggle to absorb excess heat and carbon pollution — which is why, as Kolbert points out, coral reefs might be the first entire ecosystem to go extinct in the modern era.