Facing Extinction: The Hope for Human Survival
At the present time, there are seven billion people on this planet pursuing a vision that is devouring the earth.
In a recent post, William E. Rees laid out the case that humanity is on a direct path toward destruction. He sums it up neatly at the end of his post as follows:
Disastrous climate change and energy shortages are near certainties in this century and global societal collapse a growing possibility that puts billions at risk.
It’s an uncomfortable notion, and enticing to write him off as a zealot, but a truth that many scientists are warning we’re perilously close to passing the point of no return.
The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity. — Alliance of World Scientists
Returning to Rees, his conclusions for near-term catastrophes are predicated on three facts:
- Urban civilization cannot exist without prodigious quantities of dependable energy. (The UN expects the urban population to rise to 6.7 billion — 68 per cent of humanity — by 2050. There will be 43 mega-cities with more than 10 million inhabitants each as early…
