The AMOC: A Global Climate Tipping Point - another of the #99Problems that the media are ignoring. “Scientists are begging politicians worldwide to pay attention to the AMOC” – say climate protesters outside ITN and Scotland Yard in London, UK – 18th August.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation might be a bit of a mouthful, but it seems that not talking about it could be like ignoring a huge ticking time bomb.
Simply put, the AMOC is an ocean current system that moves water north from the tropics to cool it down, before it flows back south again. It works hard to balance temperatures around the globe. From Europe – kept milder than neighbouring regions at similar latitudes – to monsoon rains in Africa and Asia, rainfall over the Amazon basin, and storm systems along the coasts of the Americas, the AMOC is critical to global temperature.
Without it, vast regions would experience dramatic temperature shifts. Northern and Western Europe could face winters as severe as Northern Canada.
West Africa would see weakened monsoons which would devastate food production. South America’s Amazon basin could face deeper droughts. The US east coast could be battered by stronger hurricanes and rapid sea-level rise.
AMOC collapse would mark a planetary climate tipping point. The colder, drier or stormier conditions would render huge areas of arable land completely unsuitable for cultivation, leading to global declines in agricultural output and triggering widespread food insecurity.
Globally, the IPCC warns that an AMOC breakdown would not simply shift weather patterns but fundamentally threaten the stability of food systems, water supplies and ecosystems on multiple continents.
Even agricultural industry voices have warned that an AMOC collapse could have catastrophic consequences, not just for farming but for economic stability and geopolitical cohesion
A University of Exeter study shows how even in one region, land suitable for farming in the UK could fall from 32% to just 7% under AMOC collapse:
While moderate global warming gets portrayed as beneficial — longer growing seasons here, milder winters there – even people celebrating that vineyards and oranges could be grown in traditionally cooler places — these are a day dream compared to the reality – the nightmare of an AMOC collapse. Model projections show Europe cooling by several degrees, rainfall falling sharply in critical agricultural belts, and entire monsoon systems destabilising.
The Potsdam Institute warns that some scenarios are especially dire, with cascading “tipping elements” triggering further climate breakdown:
Despite the gravity of this potentially imminent risk, appeals from the scientific community for urgent policy intervention have received only limited political response. Independent media coverage is available, but mainstream media are largely ignoring the AMOC completely.
The press must begin to do its job: to educate and inform the global public, empowering people everywhere to demand urgent action from their governments….and it doesn’t look like they’re going to, anytime soon.
Just another reason we need a Media Revolution.
Join the campaign for a transformation of the media system. 5th November 2025. Will you be part of it?
Protesters outside ITN – News producers in London.