Tipping point ( Enviromental Science)

Tipping Point
Student's Name
Institution
Tipping Point
A tipping point occurs when a change in one variable of non-sequential systems alters the state of the systems to a completely different one (Krishnamurthy, Fisher, Schimel, & Kareiva, 2020). The change usually occurs in a steady, incremental manner. In environmental science and climate change, a tipping point is a juncture at which there could be irreversible changes on the planet if it continued to experience exceedingly high environmental stress (Miller & Spoolman, 2016; Krishnamurthy, Fisher, Schimel, & Kareiva, 2020). At this point, environmental stress could cause the planet to become extremely unstable, hence collapsing. Environmental and climate scientists believe that the Earth’s climate systems are about to experience irreversible changes as the threat of exceeding the tipping points is greater, now more than ever. Some examples of tipping points, as revealed by Miller and Spoolman (2016) are enormous loss of coral reefs, exceeding the tipping point of 450 ppm of atmospheric carbon levels, and the melting of both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheet, among others.
The concept of tipping point has gained popularity in recent years. The concept originates from mathematics and chemistry and is now being used in environmental/ climate science (Milkoreit, et al., 2018). Although the tipping point concept was initially used as a metaphor, it has become of great importance to environmental scientists. As a metaphor, it allowed scientists to communicate to the world about the dangers of climate change (Hel, Hellsten, & Steen, 2018). Scientists used this term to warn people about climate change and this worked because even journalists started using the terminology in their work. However, its importance has grown because now, scientists use this concept as a model for research on climate change. As the term gained popularity in the science and media fields, more research articles were published, thus creating a large pool of information about climate change (Hel, Hellsten, & Steen, 2018). Also, the term tipping point was taken more gravely than other past terminologies, such as critical point and alternative stable states, which were used to communicate the same information. Scientists, and even the media, are now using this concept to drive social changes to ensure that society escapes the looming calamity of climate change. Some of the changes advocated for include shifting from using fossil fuels and practicing energy efficiency. As such, this concept is not only a communication tool but also a change agent on the issue of mitigating climate change.
As stated earlier, when a tipping point is exceeded, the state of a system, or even object, can be completely changed. For instance, when water is heated, it reaches a boiling point, thus changing its state. When the planet reaches a tipping point, the physical world...