ONE of the factors behind the credit crunch was a failure to see the big picture: a riskier deal is a lot riskier when everyone is making similar gambles. Once things start going wrong, there can be a domino effect.
Our planet’s climate is also precariously balanced. Push it too far and we could trigger a series of positive feedbacks that cause catastrophic change. For example, if rapid warming in the Arctic releases yet more greenhouse gases, runaway warming could result. There are hints that this is starting to happen (see “Meltdown: The Arctic armageddon“). It is impossible to say how likely such scary scenarios…
