With new evidence that catastrophic climate-change "tipping points" are nearing — from surging sea levels as polar ice melts to spiking temperatures as methane escapes thawing permafrost — scientists are quietly planning for the unthinkable.
"Extreme climate change risks are under-explored," Luke Kemp, a researcher with the Center for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, warned at a pioneering conference on the theme at the University of Exeter this week.
"Climate scholars have strong incentives to err on the side of least drama," he noted. "You don't want to be branded an alarmist."