Temperature, rain, wind, and sea.

That’s it?

All these problems seem abstract and far away. After all, we have until 2050 to go carbon neutral—or was it 2040?

Aren’t there more pressing things to be concerned about? What’s the need for an emergency?

Two words: feedback loops.

Here’s an example: global warming is causing polar permafrost to melt rapidly. Permafrost contains methane, a pollutant present in cow farts and 34 times as potent as carbon dioxide. When the methane is released, more pollutants in the atmosphere result in more global warming, more permafrost melting, more pollutants, and so on and so forth.

If you think it’s just about ice, consider this: the oceans are one of the biggest carbon sinks out there, and studies as early as 2011 showed that when oceans get warmer, they release more and more carbon dioxide. More pollutants mean more global warming, more ocean warming, and more pollutants being released. You get the idea.

A little global warming today, caused directly by human-emitted pollutants, results in much more global warming in the future.

As the planet warms, the weather becomes more unstable. Internationally, food security is threatened by drought, flooding, and natural disasters. Fish eggs boil in the seas; crops wither and die in the heat.

Can we live with taller mercury, bigger droplets, worse gusts, and bulging waves? Yes.

Can we keep going when the shelves run dry? No.

Singapore is a city-state, which means we have nowhere to turn to for vast farmlands and essential crops.

Essentially, feedback loops ensure that our present actions determine whether we see the collapse of human civilisation in the next decade.