This passage introduces the book’s central symbolic image: a “cascade” or cascades of compounding feedback loops that operate much like a cascade of waterfalls do: by feeding into one another, gathering strength and power until unleashing themselves in one mighty stream. The warming effect described here is just one example of a cascade: wildfires creating mudslides, flooding leading to an increase in disease, and many other compounded scenarios represent the intricate, interconnected latticework of our climate systems and their feedback loops. As these natural feedbacks cascade into one another, nature will become weaponized: wind will tug trees from the ground and turn them into battering rams, floods will cut off food deliveries and medical supplies from communities in need, and both rich and poor communities will suffer.