Unfortunately I don't remember where I did read it, but I do recall reading a paper rejecting the idea that Earth could follow a runaway green-house effect as on Venus.
I don't know if people seriously see that as a real possibility or not, but at the very least I've never heard any scientist mentioning it seriously.
EDIT: well, apparently it wasn't so hard to find. It's right in the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about runaway greenhouse effect[1]
"For instance, a “runaway greenhouse effect”—analogous to Venus--
appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities."[2]
I very much hope that the worst case is not a Venus like runaway effect. But there are many possible outcomes which for practical purpose for us humans are equally bad. There have been geohistoric events where the temperature rose by 10 degrees, causing most of the eco system to collapse. Eventually life recovered from this, with many larger species gone.
Unfortunately I don't remember where I did read it, but I do recall reading a paper rejecting the idea that Earth could follow a runaway green-house effect as on Venus.
I don't know if people seriously see that as a real possibility or not, but at the very least I've never heard any scientist mentioning it seriously.
EDIT: well, apparently it wasn't so hard to find. It's right in the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article about runaway greenhouse effect[1]
"For instance, a “runaway greenhouse effect”—analogous to Venus-- appears to have virtually no chance of being induced by anthropogenic activities."[2]
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_greenhouse_effect
2. http://www.ipcc.ch/meetings/session31/inf3.pdf