Don’t give up, we can survive even a Hothouse Earth

People tend to have one of two broad reactions to bad news on the climate: hopeless despair and unjustified optimism. Neither reaction is right.

We’ve seen this yet again in the response to the Hothouse Earth story this week –the suggestion that once Earth warms by a certain amount, maybe just 2°C, a cascade of tipping points will keep it warming even if our greenhouse gas emissions cease.

This paper would probably have got little attention a few months ago. But after months…