Is the planet heading toward a ‘hothouse’ as our future wilts?

“Feedback effects” contribute to global warming. Does that ring a warning bell? Well, it should.

Those wondering why North China, including Beijing, has been experiencing the weather that it has seen over the past few weeks should take note. People in northern China, contrary to their usual expectations, are longing for rain, as they believe it would bring some relief from the high temperatures and unheard of humidity levels only to feel frustrated after every spell of hide-and-seek playing rain, because it brings little respite from high temperatures and humidity.

So what exactly are the feedback effects of global warming and why are they alarming?

Environmental scientists warned last week that the feedback effects could trip the Earth into a “hothouse state”, from which it could be impossible for us to recover, even if we reduce the rise of carbon dioxide emissions to 2 C of pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.

A group of leading climate scientists has sketched out this grim prospect in a journal paper, which takes into consideration the combined consequences of 10 climate change processes, including the release of methane trapped in the Siberian permafrost and the impact of melting ice in Greenland, the extended Arctic and the Antarctic, said a report in The Guardian.

Consider this: The highest point in Sweden has just lost its status as the glacier on the southern tip of Mt. Kebnekaise shrinks because of record high Arctic temperatures.

The warmest year without El Nino, a periodic climatic event that warms the Pacific Ocean, was 2017, said the annual state of the climate report by 500 climate scientists from across the world, which was overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and released by the American Meteorological Society.

Overall, last year was the third warmest — behind 2016 and 2015.

In fact, in May last year the extent of ice in the Arctic was the lowest in the 37-year satellite record, covering 8 percent less area than the long-term average.

The Arctic experienced temperatures that scientists said haven’t been seen in 2,000 years.

Antarctic sea ice, too, was below average throughout last year.

No wonder the authors of the paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week, said that although their study is not conclusive, the commitment the countries have made in the 2015 Paris climate accord to keep warming at 2 C above preindustrial levels “may not be enough to ‘park’ the planet’s climate at a stable temperature”, The Guardian reported.

The report also said scientists are still discovering new “feedback loops”, and another paper published in the PNAS shows that increased rainfall, an outcome of climate change in some regions is making it more difficult for forest soil to trap greenhouse gases such as methane.

The feedback effect, or a domino-like effect, of melting ice, warming seas, shifting currents and dying forests could tilt the Earth into a “hothouse” state, a state from where human efforts to reduce emissions will not be enough to prevent global warming.

China remains committed to fighting climate change. It has taken drastic steps to reduce emissions, although it has to do more — for example, promote more nonfossil fuels and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

But apart from curbing greenhouse gas emissions at a much faster rate, the international community also has to build resilience into the complex climate change process, which seems impossible given the anti-environmental policies of the United States, one of the largest emitters, and the business-as-usual policies of many other countries.