climate breakdown

American  

[klahy-mit breyk-doun] / ˈklaɪ mɪt ˌbreɪk daʊn /

noun

Climatology.

1. the collective effects of harmful and potentially irreversible trends in climate, specifically those resulting from unchecked global warming.

   In September 2023, the United Nations announced that “climate breakdown has begun.”

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Etymology

Origin of climate breakdown

First recorded in 2000–05

Example Sentences

The 11 artists involved in the Bristol billboard takeover said the project draws attention to how advertising seeks to sell us more cars, despite the accelerating impacts of climate breakdown.

From BBC

“Will the burden of climate breakdown and nature degradation be placed on the young people of the planet, the vulnerable, and the poor, those least responsible for creating the crises?” he asked.

From Seattle Times

"People who don't really want to grapple with climate change will say, 'Well, there have always been fires, and there have always been big fires' — and that's true,'" said Peter Friederici, a communication professor at Northern Arizona University and the author of the new book Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope.

From Salon

“We want to have this conversation, and to bring it around to our demand about what we need to do to avoid climate breakdown and collapse,” Ms. Carrington said.

From New York Times

The tactic has historical precedent, he says: Even though paintings are hardly responsible for the climate crisis, the point is to “create enough disorder to make it impossible to ignore the ongoing climate breakdown.”

From New York Times