"The science of climate change is still inherently uncertain, but it seems safe to say that in recent decades, the news almost always seems to be worse than what climate scientists previously believed likely. Despite being villainized by Republican politicians as being "alarmist," (and being threatened with bodily harm) climate scientists seem to be erring consistently on the side of not being alarmist enough. Ice shelves that were projected to destabilize in decades are now showing signs of earlier destabilization, tropical cyclones are more strange, powerful, and destructive, wildfires and beetle infestations are more destructive and uncontrollable, and strange things are occurring in oceans that are either more ominous than previously thought, or completely unexpected. The world may be at risk of losing most of its coral reefs, not in the coming century, but in coming decades, perhaps even the coming years"--