Sorry to age myself, but back in the seventies, Don Meredith was an announcer on Monday Night Football. Once the game was decided, he used to sing “Turn out the lights, the party’s over” and it was basically time to get a jump on traffic and leave the game. Well, if you don’t live in a cave, the news is now full of articles discussing how the World has passed the IPCC goal of keeping temperature below 1.5 deg C and the collapse of the AMOC (basically Gulf Stream that keeps the temp in Europe mild) is imminent. Plus a nearly endless number of articles on melting glaciers, Cat 6 hurricanes coming, floods, droughts, aquifers going dry, unlivable temperature spikes, etc….
OK, call me Debbie Downer, but the future is going to be full of challenges. As I noted from the beginning, humans are really good (ok, kind of good) at dealing with problems right in front of them, like wars and pandemics, but not so good at things that happen more slowly. That is until it gets so bad that all of a sudden, the herd panics and there is a literal stampede. In this case it could be financial panic as home prices collapse due to sea level rise, wild fires (which btw cause us to lose our home insurance coverage which in turn causes home prices to collapse as without insurance people can’t get or afford mortgages), floods, etc…. Then supply chains breakdown as people start to hoard items or can’t get critical things to keep their lives on track. Lots of self induced stressors plus those driven by climate change induced food shortages or price hikes of that food which is no longer as available. Not a pretty picture and trust me (or don’t), it is coming. Maybe not tomorrow but someday in the next decade or so.
Humanity will survive, we are just too adaptable, but with what impact? We need to get our house(s) in order, find a way to come into balance with nature and be prepared for a lot of challenges so our kids and grandchildren have a better shot at a good life.
Stay tuned,
SZ