"Chances are you've heard that Taylor Swift is getting married. When she and Travis Kelce announced their engagement last month, it was all over the news, all over the world. Chances are equally good that you did not hear some other, literally Earth-shaping news that broke two days later. On August 28, some of the world's foremost climate scientists dramatically revised their estimate of how soon one of the foundations of Earth's climate system could collapse."
"The collapse of what is commonly called the Gulf Stream-the vast Atlantic ocean current that scientists refer to as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, AMOC-would deal a crushing blow to civilization as we know it. Sometimes known as Europe's "central heating unit," the AMOC is why Britain, France, The Netherlands, and their northern neighbors enjoy relatively mild winters, even though they sit as far north as Canada and Russia. AMOC originates in the Caribbean, where sun-warmed sea water flows northeast across the Atlantic toward Greenland."
A major climate risk received far less attention than a celebrity engagement despite scientists dramatically revising how soon the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could fail. The AMOC, often called the Gulf Stream or Europe's "central heating unit," transports enormous heat from the Caribbean toward Greenland—about 50 times the heat the world uses annually. Collapse of the AMOC would produce much colder, longer European winters, sharply reduced food production, and profound impacts on population and infrastructure. Persistent newsroom habits and fears about depressing or complex climate news contribute to underreporting of this existential threat.
Read at The Nation
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