I wonder why more of us aren’t running down the street in terror over what is happening. There are enough terrifying things going on that it is amazing that more of us have not gone berserk.
I look out my window and up at the sky. All seems calm and peaceful, but I know that there are climate changes in motion that will dramatically change the face of the earth and our established way of life. Not since agriculture became essential to our species has there been much of a change in the climate we have learned to rely on. Things have been very stable, with a few cold blips along the way. As disruptive as those cold blips were, they were small compared for what will soon be upon us.
We have become so numerous and so well-fed because we have been able to produce an abundance of food. There are still problems of distribution, but the food is there and available. With the change in climate, this reliable system is about to change. Without food, it will be difficult for the immense population of humans to survive.
Social disruption will come with climate change. To make things more complicated, we are already in the midst of social turmoil. The leadership of past great civilizations and the decisions they made brought about the ruin and dissolution of those huge communities. Rome, the Maya, the Aztec all experienced dissolution of their societies. It was a ruin caused by their own unchanging insistence on a way of life no longer sustainable.
In the US, we are experiencing a stubborn reliance on points of view that are out of sync with reality. Over consumption is perhaps the greatest threat, accompanied by the resistance against learning from past mistakes of our species.
I am uncertain just when it will arrive, but I expect we will experience chaos and collapse in my lifetime. However, you probably won’t see me running down the street in terror.