ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the precursors, origins, main claims, and consequences of the tipping point paradigm of planetary change are reviewed. It traces the shift from tipping points as a colloquial metaphor for a particular sort of environmental change to its adoption as a risk management framework governing how environmental science and policy making were brought together at the global scale. It suggests that tipping points are not simply a scientific idea for understanding environmental change, but a crucial site through which struggles over the environmental conditions and security of our existing socio-economic order should be engaged.
