Positive Tipping Points
How to Fix the Climate Crisis
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Publishing:11th Sep '25
£20.00
This title is due to be published on 11th September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
We can all play a part in triggering positive tipping points that accelerate us out of the climate crisis. How do we get out of a climate crisis of our own making? As global change escalates, we are already starting to experience damaging tipping points in the social, ecological and climate systems that we depend upon - and much worse is to come. These shocks tell us we have left it too late for incremental change to save us: we need to change course fast to avoid the worst, yet we are acting far too slowly. Our supposed leaders appear paralysed by the complexity of the situation or, worse still, determined to maintain the status quo. This is leading to increasing despair, especially among young people. At the same time, hopeful signs of change are also growing fast. The climate movement, the spread of electric vehicles, and the rise of renewable energy are all examples of change accelerating in the right direction. They have all passed tipping points where their uptake becomes self-propelling, taking the status quo by surprise - and they are spreading worldwide. To get ourselves out of trouble in time, we need more of these positive tipping points towards global sustainability, which eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, reverse the destruction of nature, and promote social justice. This book identifies the positive tipping points that can help us avoid the worst from damaging tipping points. It takes the reader on a journey through understanding how tipping points happen, showing how tipping points have transformed human societies in the past, and facing up to the profound risks that climate tipping points pose to us all now. Then, it offers hope and empowerment in a series of uplifting examples of social and technological changes that started small but are already spreading rapidly to transform our societies to a more sustainable state. It identifies the positive tipping points that are still needed, the forces that are opposing them, and the actions that can trigger them, showing how we can all play a part in triggering positive tipping points that accelerate us out of the climate crisis.
This is a tour de force: a magnificent exploration of what could be the most important issues of all. I beg you to read it. * George Monbiot, author, journalist, environmental activist *
Tipping points are the essence of what is dangerous in climate change, and of what is hopeful and possible in economic change. Tim Lenton realised their importance long before most people, and this is the book to read if you want to understand them better. * Simon Sharpe, author of Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change *
Planetary tipping points threaten. Technological and social tipping points hold the promise. Time to focus! * Christiana Figueres, Former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Climate Change Convention *
We could feel despondent and hopeless given the negative tipping points that climate change is crossing. Or instead, we could fight fire with fire, recognizing that there are positive tipping points just as there are negative ones. Consider, for example, the exponential uptake of EVs and the declines in costs for solar PV. So how does some change become nonlinear? That is what this important book shows us. * Sir Andrew Steer, KCMG, PhD, President and CEO, Bezos Earth Fund. *
Positive Tipping Points by Tim Lenton is a compelling exploration of Earth's fragile systems, blending cutting-edge science with urgent storytelling. Essential for anyone seeking to understand and navigate our planet's climate challenges. * Tom Rivett-Carnac, Founding Partner, Global Optimism *
We live in turbulent times where a big world dictates outcomes on a small planet. Nothing is linear or incremental anymore. Tim Lenton presents the most authoritative effort so far in confronting us humans with this reality. Things can go badly, permanently and fast, things can go well, very fast and at scale. Read this book to calibrate yourself for the stormy times ahead. * Johan Rockström, Professor Earth system science, University of Potsdam, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research *
This is the most enjoyable book ever written on the impending climate catastrophe. Sounds paradoxical, but Lenton provides, in a perfectly readable and even entertaining way, compelling evidence that our familiar world must eventually collapse on the current sociopolitical trajectory. At the same time, he identifies the best of all hopes for rapidly exiting that trajectory. Tipping dynamics, a notion I helped to introduce into climate science several decades ago, is key in both respects: positive nonlinear processes compete with negative ones in the battle for planet Earth. Lenton's wonderful essay may be just the gentle tip we need for winning that fight. * John Schellnhuber, Director General, IIASA, Founder and Shareholder, Bauhaus Erde *
ISBN: 9780198875789
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
272 pages