Climate tipping points sound scary, especially for ice sheets and oceans – here’s why there’s still room for optimism

Ph. Meltwater runs across the Greenland ice sheet in rivers. The ice sheet is already losing mass and could soon reach a tipping point. Maria-José Viñas/NASA Alexandra A Phillips, University of California, Santa Barbara As the planet warms, it risks crossing catastrophic tipping points: thresholds where Earth systems, such as ice sheets and