Why does just 1.5C° of heating make such a significant difference on Earth’s climate and environment?
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Think of all the places with snow.
If the average temperature increases by 1,5°C, all snowy places with an average between -1.5°C and 0°C will no longer have any snow as the temperature will be above 0°C and the snow will melt. (I’m aware this is average temperature and actual effects can be very local.)
It happens snow is white and is very good at reflecting sunlight back into space preventing that same sunlight from warming the earth.
Loosing a large amount of “white” snow, ensures the sunlight is no longer reflected and trapping additional heating from the sun. Then the average temperature will increase more, more snow will melt, etc… causing a runaway effect.
1.5°C has been put as a limit of when such a runaway effect will occur.
(This is just one of the many reasons, 1,5°C has a very large effect. This one is just easy to comprehend as it doesn’t go into the complex and intricate mechanisms of dependencies in ecosystems; which can cause food shortages, etc…)
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