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Climate Change Feedback Loops by Bergil J. St. Juste, City-Tech blogger

Feedback loops are quite interesting and complex. From my understanding, there are positive feedback loops which accelerate temperature rise and makes the climate warmer; the negative feedback loops decelerate temperatures, and create a cooler climate. There are various amounts of climate change feedback loops. One example is the melting of ice. Ice is light colored and reflective. When the sun hits the ice, the sunlight is bounced off. However, the less ice on earth, the less sunlight is reflected, therefore, the more our planet heats up, the more heat, the less ice, and it continues in this cycle. This is called the Ice-Albedo Feedback. Another example is how higher temperatures within the next decade, mixed with a growing human population, will increase energy demands as the world gets hotter, which will increase emissions that cause climate change, continuing the cycle. A  NASA computer modeling effort from 2010 found that additional growth of plants and trees may be able to reduce global warming by creating a negative feedback, or cooling effect.

There is most likely a vast amount of feedback loops that we have yet to discover but what I find most curious is the idea of using negative feedbacks to help decelerate climate change perpetually. Of course, the consequences of such actions may or may not have negative effects on the planet or life on earth, but I believe it is worth considering.

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