Mike, I appreciate your writing and your analysis of our current predicaments brought on by population overshoot in conjunction with out-of-control consumerism supported by our destructive burning of fossil fuels that put record amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere.

There are so many interconnected consequences happening with global heating that anticipating precise outcomes is a difficult exercise.

We know that the polar regions of Earth are heating up fast, resulting in rapid melting of ice; melting that accelerates sea-level rise. Along the coast of North Carolina (my home state) the ground is also rapidly subsiding which adds to coastal erosion and flooding. We know the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is slowing and is likely to collapse (perhaps soon because of melting ice flooding in to the Atlantic) --with significant consequences for the American east coast and Europe, especially Great Britian.

Heating also impacts artic air masses and the Jet Stream in ways that bring erratic weather patterns to North America. The general heating of our planet increases occurrences of severe weather resulting in more intense tornadoes, thunderstorms, wind shear, and destructive hurricanes. Summertime temperatures and wet bulb conditions in many parts of the globe are already reaching levels that kill people who are vulnerable and who cannot find shelter from the unprecedented heat.

I really can't follow it all. The issue of heat is the one thing that is tangible to me in everyday life. Where I live in central North Carolina winter has retreated significantly. Ten years ago, we had significant snowstorms and many hard freezes. My online photo backup service presents me with photographic evidence of my dogs playing in snow (and so on) from ten, five, and three years ago. It's a wintertime that's no longer happening here. But then I see on the news that the Pacific northwest, mountain states, and the Midwest are experiencing massive snowstorms, flooding, tornados, and wildfires. We are living in a very turbulent time for weather in North America.

The indicator that means the most to me is the sense of turbulence and uncertainty with weather and how seasons like spring and summer are changing in ways measurable by temperature.

Rapid rise in ambient temperature seems to be the one factor that I can experience firsthand and know in my bones that we have entered into an unprecedented time for human civilization.