Thank you for your courageous honesty. I agree that it’s more helpful to look reality in the eye rather than distract oneself, pretending it’s not happening. I’ve come to the conclusion that those with the power and money are pulling back on government resources (and pocketing the proceeds) because they’ve already relegated the rest of us to the trash bin. In a way, I’m glad that I will be gone before all this comes to pass… and that we never had kids/ grandkids who will be left behind to suffer. I read about bunkers carved into the sides of mountains and underground cities. I’m guessing each “golden ticket” is worth millions. We are now in a “pay to play” world. But in the end, we may not survive our hubris and greed as a species. I only pray that the earth will somehow still find a way to go on without us.
Agreed, all the cutting and burning in the government is 100 percent because they've already thrown us away in their minds. I've read about the bunkers but not the underground cities. If you've got any links, please share. I'm curious now.
the salt mine in Romania video was not being delivered to by someone with an American accent so the commentary and the original video footage have been spliced together - just my first impression - not legit - do salt mines like that exist? YES but the context here is warped.
I won't live to see 2050 but my children and grandchildren will / may.
I read things like this and think about my trivial concerns about every day life as I know it now. But I have already had to make small adaptations to our gardens due to the change in our climate and watch as certain birds just don't show up anymore on the property to nest, although the hummingbirds have arrived. I've noticed I don't have to clean dead bugs off my windshield after driving to town. No bugs = no birds? Even the ubiquitous wasps have all but disappeared.
And I thought Trump was going after Greenland because Putin told him to, so that Russia has a firmer military grip on that area of the world, but is it possible that someone in Trump's administration actually believes in climate change after all, and is "prepping"?
Circling back around to this, and it makes perfect sense. I agree that the current admin secretly believes all the climate science, but they have a very different plan for humanity. They anticipate human extinction and think they'll escape it.
This post reports on underground facilities that have been dug out of solid rock. These are for government, military and other select persons. On extends and incredible 6 miles + through solid rock. How long did it take to do this, largely in secret and at what cost. Paragraph 3 or 4 has a video you can watch made by a tractor trailer driver who was delivering cargo to one of these secure fortresses.
While the idea of the wealthy throwing everyone else under the bus to save themselves sounds perfectly plausible, as per Jessica’s writings, I find that ”report” on multiple underground cities to read much like a classic conspiracy theory.
Just no way that such complex projects can be executed in complete secrecy.
Yes, echoing other comments, I believe the Project 2025 people 100 percent believe in the doom. I wrote a post a few months ago on the other indicators that the elite know/believe we're doomed and planning to accelerate it while insulating themselves.
Great article! We have six kids ranging from 20 to 5 years old. Teaching them gardening is more than just sticking seeds in soil and watering them…. it’s like the other commenter said: what pollinators are showing up (and not showing up)? What birds are you seeing? How are they behaving? Our home was on a migration path… nearly every day, especially during spring and fall, literally thousands upon thousands, endless streams, of birds would fly over, for years. We haven’t seen a flock in weeks. It’s very, very strange and unexplained. But we wouldn’t know about any changes in the natural order if we were inside in front of a TV. Teaching them to spend quality time outside, observing, is so important.
(The answer to the interruption of the bird migration may be that we live next to a Navy base and the jets and helicopters have been flying training missions what feels like non-freaking-stop for the last couple of months. So being outside doesn’t just give you a glimpse of erratic patterns in the natural world, it can give you a glimpse of erratic patterns in the human world, too. Our military is clearly gearing up for big things.)
We also have frank conversations with our older kids. We’re all getting passports and looking at various locations to emigrate, central Canada being top choice on everyone’s list. If we go, we want to all go together, but some of them are adults and spreading their own branches in different directions. My deepest fear is that I may lose my children when they move halfway across the world and I rarely see them again. We are very close. I would have a very hard time dealing, but with every passing month of this regime, I am coming to grips with this most likely scenario. Especially for my boys who don’t want to get conscripted into military service under this regime.
We are in deep shit. In so many ways. I mentioned to my husband the other day… I adore my kids, and they are strong and resilient. But if I knew then what I knew now, I would never have brought them into this world to inevitably suffer the way they will in their later years.
I suggest that you get in touch with a Canadian immigration attorney to shepherd you through the process. Also, there are myriad restrictions, requirements and paperwork involved in moving assets out of the U.S. these days. I would be very careful to keep your intentions confidential because the environment at the border is very hostile these days. FYI.
I relate to your last paragraph so much...I love mine more than I could ever put into words and I struggle so much that I brought them into this shit show. They are struggling in a big way right now (3 of them...13-19 yo).
I’m in the Welsh Countryside in the UK, and I’ve also noticed a complete lack of birds migrating back this year. It’s difficult to notice in my own garden which is still filled with birdsong, but when I drive outside I notice it. Normally groups would dive every second from the hedgerows and spiral infront of the car collecting bugs as you drive. This year there are none.
We're not going to pressure our kid to prepare for a future that doesn't exist, and we're not going to make her move out at 18, or even 25. I suspect anyone who has young kids now is/should be planning to circle the wagons with them. At least, that's our plan.
I have always thought about genocide and slavery as “the end of the world” for the peoples enslaved and murdered in mass.
When my ancestors were kidnapped and chained and enslaved in Alabama, wasn’t that the end of their world? When the Native Americans were murdered until only 20% were left, the end of their world?
The difference today, is that everyone will face the end of their world.
Aside- my soon to be ex-sister in law is moving from Minnesota to Arizona for retirement, because the MN winter dries her skin out too much. 🤦🏾♀️ what she will do when it is 120 degrees with no a/c,…move back to MN?
Yes, and for the people in Gaza, it's the end of their world. When this world ends, I'm going to keep in mind that my world ended many other worlds before it crashed and burned. I'm going to try and not feel too sorry for myself.
I have been anticipating the end of humans since I was 11, back in the 1970’s. Of course, I hoped that it wouldn’t happen while I was still living, but here I am, still living, thinking about the end of humans while I listen to Jazz.
I have always loved all things dystopian. I never felt that humans deserved the fauna and flora that we destroy.
I need Vault-Tec’s plan B. Something to painlessly and quickly end my life when people come to my house to kill me. I envision this in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, I recently returned from 3 weeks in California visiting friends and family. I plan to do as much of this as I can, while I can.
I have found that no one I know, except my sister, can accept that the end of the world is in sight. It’s like covid, if you pretend you can’t get long covid, then you can’t.
Keep prepping. I will plan to wait for Musk et al cyanide. And if it isn’t coming, guess I will buy a gun for 2040…
My wife and I are almost 68. I've been watching climate and weather for the last few decades. I've seen in my own lifetime how things have worsened. We'll likely be gone before things get really bad, or because things got really bad soon. I fear for our kids, grandkids, and now recent great great grandkid. What horrors they will live to see. The weight of the oncoming existential catastrophe is almost unbearable at times. I have grandsons that are almost of age to be drafted.
Knowing and accepting what's coming takes both the rational and emotional sides of us. The rational side sees, understands, and preps. The emotional side feels, copes, and tries to dispel the stress and suffering that is caused by understanding and accepting. We all have way of coping, good and bad.
I'm not completely convinced humans won't survive in low tech settlements at very high latitudes. I won't be around to see. The high tech fools may survive in their hidey holes for a while, but they will collapse around them over time. I think we know the answer to the Fermi Paradox now. There may be a few alien races that pass this Great Filter, but they're likely few and far between both in time and space. I keep remembering that Carl Sagan once said that the Cosmos is neither welcoming or hostile, merely indifferent to our survival.
Well said. Whether 100 percent of humans survive or not, who knows? I take the bet that humans will carry on for an indefinite period in very small numbers post 2050s.
Have you read - Under a Green Sky? it changed my life. I think you will appreciate it and yes i know how old it is and yes..... it is that important. I don't think i have made a book recommendation before. This is big picture stuff that even if you have maybe some of your readers might also appreciate.
Interesting theories. I will be lucky to make it to the 2040's at my age. But your article, and others like it lately, are telling me that I need to have a conversation with my kids and grandkids and tell them what's coming. I am going to wait just a little bit longer until my grandkids are a little older. I have one granddaughter who just turned 17 but she lives in a fantasy world of her parents making so my lecture would go on deaf ears in that household. The others might listen though, if I time it right.
We all know it's coming. Those of us who pay attention anyway. For the others, it will only get their attention once they run out of food and/or a climate induced weather event finally makes them wake up. But we already know that it's too late even now. I think we're past the point of no return. With Trump stripping out all potential research and mitigation attempts, it's a foregone conclusion. At least in the United States and the 30 degrees of latitudes between the tropics around the equator to include central and south America, the middle east, southern China, Southeast Asia and so on. As I told someone else earlier today, I will live long enough to see the U.S. collapse into itself before I die, taking Canada with it, and maybe a couple of others. I could be wrong about Canada. They seem to be a bit more determined to move away from the U.S. now. I hope they do.
Mexico is already doing the same, along with most of the rest of the world now. it will take a few more years but some famous economists are all predicting a financial end to the once United States soon. The current fiscal situation is not sustainable in its current form.
No matter. If everything these scientists say comes true, none of that matters anyway. As you said, governments will topple and a new world order will come about. You might say it has already started.
It's a sad situation. I didn't have a stupid trade war on my bingo card, at least not until November 2024. Honestly, some of us might survive halfway okay if politicians would stop inflicting more "solutions" on us. Of course, they won't.
I've had that discussion with our grown daughters. One gets it. She and her family are preparing for it as best as they can. The other daughter...well, no. We're preparing as best as we can within our means. Financially, we might be able to emigrate, but we're staying for our kids and grandkids. They might find out why many successful societies value their seniors, unlike our own.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Terrance. Barring some unlikely and unexpected turnaround, Humanity is going to go through some horrifying times, possibly including being forced into small enclaves at high latitudes or extinction. Our rich, cave building citizens can't stay down there forever. The planet will take geological ages to recover, if it can. I think they're digging their own delayed graves. Perhaps they haven't read Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death."
In the west you prepare for wildfires, heat waves, lack of water, arctic blasts, frozen roads and sometimes snow
in the east you prepare for hurricanes, heat waves, short tempers, arctic blasts, frozen roads snow
In the heartland, flyover states tornadoes, heat waves, freezing rain storms, bad thunder storms, snow storms, arctic blasts an earthquake here and there
In each area we learn what to store and what not to store. We get basic medical kits, extra dog food, and water in jugs. We, who live outside of cities learn that wool blankets are the greatest, quilts can be used for putting up on windows to cut down on drafts.
If I can part a little bit of wisdom here it is, make friends with neighbors, pull together, kids count and old people have some valid solutions.
If the wealthy, beautiful people are building escape routes we can find them and either take resources we need, or die. Or you can make it so they can't get out. or poison their environment. Nasty thinking there, but survival for some.
If the earth gets too hot, you go underground, you find caves with water, rooms and you build from the bottom up. How many civilizations are below us? We will relearn the old ways.
Lastly if you want to be negative, depressing, you can be that. Some will hang around you and others, well, they will build something, alternatives to how we live now, and leave you behind. What you have to decide is whether you are going positive or negative into the future.
I agree, but also plans like moving to caves are smart--and they work as long as 8 billion other people don't try to do the same thing. I ended this essay on a note of rugged optimism, but I think it's weird to call myself positive or optimistic while counting on the fact that 90 percent of the world won't try to move in with me in my bat cave, and will instead just starve to death or die in heat domes... But yes, my take on the research is that we'll see a "soft" extinction that's more like a massive population collapse, 90 percent or greater over the next two decades. I'm trying to be positive, but I also don't want to be arrogant and assume I'll survive. Stuff happens, even when you're prepared.
I almost envision two, possibly three scenarios. Technology driven people, possibly transhumans living in a certain section of the world cut off from the rest of the world.
Second group smart survivors. They have guns, medical supplies, can farm, hunt, and stay hidden in whichever environment they are in, city verses, country, desert verses by the water. There are books, and some technology, but think Amish or Mennonites, only when necessary/emergencies only. Maybe linked up with other communities when needed, or warned about impending warring groups, medical emergencies or need.
Third group, Marauders. Think of people with no connections, living just for that day, surviving day to day. They take what they want and need. No; permanent base, tribe affiliation, morals when useful, constantly moving. Think of cowboy outlaws, or tv series, firefly.
The first group will try their hardest to get off the planet. They want their own world, own people and a closed society. Second group would prefer to stay here, a sense of home, family, support structure and known adversity whether it be weather, disease, marauders, bad seasons. Third group, will do both.
That is just me, that is if everything hits the fan.
Are cut, 2,000,000 healthcare workers will be laid off. Hospitals are closing all the time.
It will be so much worse than the worst of covid. So many of us will
Die painfully from untreated sepsis. People die every summer from heat. The prisoners who die from heat have their deaths classified as “natural.” Many prisons and workplaces will become morgues. (They don’t have a/c)
You mentioned Gaia Vince’s Nomad Century. But unlike the other books listed this one has a message of hope.
Yes it’s too late to stop the damage. But Artic regions will become habitable and will easily be able to accommodate the world’s population.
Plus we will be able to make happy productive and fair societies in mega cities, while we repair the climate - over a few hundred years.
This sails against the strong headwinds of the apocalyptic, sack cloth and ashes and general self-flagellation of the “we deserve punishment for modernity” message that comes with so much of the collapse rhetoric.
It would be interesting to hear your take on Vince’s thesis
Thank you for your courageous honesty. I agree that it’s more helpful to look reality in the eye rather than distract oneself, pretending it’s not happening. I’ve come to the conclusion that those with the power and money are pulling back on government resources (and pocketing the proceeds) because they’ve already relegated the rest of us to the trash bin. In a way, I’m glad that I will be gone before all this comes to pass… and that we never had kids/ grandkids who will be left behind to suffer. I read about bunkers carved into the sides of mountains and underground cities. I’m guessing each “golden ticket” is worth millions. We are now in a “pay to play” world. But in the end, we may not survive our hubris and greed as a species. I only pray that the earth will somehow still find a way to go on without us.
Agreed, all the cutting and burning in the government is 100 percent because they've already thrown us away in their minds. I've read about the bunkers but not the underground cities. If you've got any links, please share. I'm curious now.
No idea if this is legit. I have not done a deep dive into the research . Just found it curious… https://www.tiktok.com/@itsnickholiday/video/7502900041539964206
(I could not locate the original article that I read to my husband.)
the salt mine in Romania video was not being delivered to by someone with an American accent so the commentary and the original video footage have been spliced together - just my first impression - not legit - do salt mines like that exist? YES but the context here is warped.
I won't live to see 2050 but my children and grandchildren will / may.
I read things like this and think about my trivial concerns about every day life as I know it now. But I have already had to make small adaptations to our gardens due to the change in our climate and watch as certain birds just don't show up anymore on the property to nest, although the hummingbirds have arrived. I've noticed I don't have to clean dead bugs off my windshield after driving to town. No bugs = no birds? Even the ubiquitous wasps have all but disappeared.
And I thought Trump was going after Greenland because Putin told him to, so that Russia has a firmer military grip on that area of the world, but is it possible that someone in Trump's administration actually believes in climate change after all, and is "prepping"?
My view is "yes" to if Trumpists really believe in climate change https://stephenthair.substack.com/p/what-if-the-trumpists-really-believe?r=wxx11
And large parts of Project 2025 can be seen through a climate change prepping lens... https://stephenthair.substack.com/p/collapse-vs-project-2025?r=wxx11
Circling back around to this, and it makes perfect sense. I agree that the current admin secretly believes all the climate science, but they have a very different plan for humanity. They anticipate human extinction and think they'll escape it.
Black Mirror- 3 robots- the elite don’t escape
World War z - the elite don’t escape the zombie apocalypse
8 billion people vs a few
Hundred- they can’t escape
Our fate. We are all on this island together
Correct. Hubris looks like this. Also stupidity,
This post reports on underground facilities that have been dug out of solid rock. These are for government, military and other select persons. On extends and incredible 6 miles + through solid rock. How long did it take to do this, largely in secret and at what cost. Paragraph 3 or 4 has a video you can watch made by a tractor trailer driver who was delivering cargo to one of these secure fortresses.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mitteldorf/p/what-do-they-know-that-we-dont?r=nyiz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
While the idea of the wealthy throwing everyone else under the bus to save themselves sounds perfectly plausible, as per Jessica’s writings, I find that ”report” on multiple underground cities to read much like a classic conspiracy theory.
Just no way that such complex projects can be executed in complete secrecy.
The very idea just defies all logic.
Agreed. And we need immigrant workers to build anything…
Thank you. You have clearly put a great deal of thought into the very question I posed.
Yes, echoing other comments, I believe the Project 2025 people 100 percent believe in the doom. I wrote a post a few months ago on the other indicators that the elite know/believe we're doomed and planning to accelerate it while insulating themselves.
Thank you. You have clearly put a great deal of thought into the very question I posed.
Great article! We have six kids ranging from 20 to 5 years old. Teaching them gardening is more than just sticking seeds in soil and watering them…. it’s like the other commenter said: what pollinators are showing up (and not showing up)? What birds are you seeing? How are they behaving? Our home was on a migration path… nearly every day, especially during spring and fall, literally thousands upon thousands, endless streams, of birds would fly over, for years. We haven’t seen a flock in weeks. It’s very, very strange and unexplained. But we wouldn’t know about any changes in the natural order if we were inside in front of a TV. Teaching them to spend quality time outside, observing, is so important.
(The answer to the interruption of the bird migration may be that we live next to a Navy base and the jets and helicopters have been flying training missions what feels like non-freaking-stop for the last couple of months. So being outside doesn’t just give you a glimpse of erratic patterns in the natural world, it can give you a glimpse of erratic patterns in the human world, too. Our military is clearly gearing up for big things.)
We also have frank conversations with our older kids. We’re all getting passports and looking at various locations to emigrate, central Canada being top choice on everyone’s list. If we go, we want to all go together, but some of them are adults and spreading their own branches in different directions. My deepest fear is that I may lose my children when they move halfway across the world and I rarely see them again. We are very close. I would have a very hard time dealing, but with every passing month of this regime, I am coming to grips with this most likely scenario. Especially for my boys who don’t want to get conscripted into military service under this regime.
We are in deep shit. In so many ways. I mentioned to my husband the other day… I adore my kids, and they are strong and resilient. But if I knew then what I knew now, I would never have brought them into this world to inevitably suffer the way they will in their later years.
I suggest that you get in touch with a Canadian immigration attorney to shepherd you through the process. Also, there are myriad restrictions, requirements and paperwork involved in moving assets out of the U.S. these days. I would be very careful to keep your intentions confidential because the environment at the border is very hostile these days. FYI.
I relate to your last paragraph so much...I love mine more than I could ever put into words and I struggle so much that I brought them into this shit show. They are struggling in a big way right now (3 of them...13-19 yo).
I’m in the Welsh Countryside in the UK, and I’ve also noticed a complete lack of birds migrating back this year. It’s difficult to notice in my own garden which is still filled with birdsong, but when I drive outside I notice it. Normally groups would dive every second from the hedgerows and spiral infront of the car collecting bugs as you drive. This year there are none.
We're not going to pressure our kid to prepare for a future that doesn't exist, and we're not going to make her move out at 18, or even 25. I suspect anyone who has young kids now is/should be planning to circle the wagons with them. At least, that's our plan.
And this doesn’t even consider the possibility of massive nuclear power station meltdowns. This could shorten the timeline by a few decades…
Very much.
And we are terrible at cleaning up….
Sobering but recognizing a future based on the reality of what is happening today; not wishful fantasies. Thanks for your efforts Jessica.
I have always thought about genocide and slavery as “the end of the world” for the peoples enslaved and murdered in mass.
When my ancestors were kidnapped and chained and enslaved in Alabama, wasn’t that the end of their world? When the Native Americans were murdered until only 20% were left, the end of their world?
The difference today, is that everyone will face the end of their world.
Aside- my soon to be ex-sister in law is moving from Minnesota to Arizona for retirement, because the MN winter dries her skin out too much. 🤦🏾♀️ what she will do when it is 120 degrees with no a/c,…move back to MN?
Yes, and for the people in Gaza, it's the end of their world. When this world ends, I'm going to keep in mind that my world ended many other worlds before it crashed and burned. I'm going to try and not feel too sorry for myself.
Gaza.
My great grandparents’ families in Vilna.
Rwanda.
Black Africans.
Indigenous people around the planet.
Syrians.
Venzuelans.
Black Americans.
Hmong people.
People of Hiroshima, Nagasaki
The Vietnamese people
All war.
So much waste.
I have been anticipating the end of humans since I was 11, back in the 1970’s. Of course, I hoped that it wouldn’t happen while I was still living, but here I am, still living, thinking about the end of humans while I listen to Jazz.
I have always loved all things dystopian. I never felt that humans deserved the fauna and flora that we destroy.
I need Vault-Tec’s plan B. Something to painlessly and quickly end my life when people come to my house to kill me. I envision this in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, I recently returned from 3 weeks in California visiting friends and family. I plan to do as much of this as I can, while I can.
I have found that no one I know, except my sister, can accept that the end of the world is in sight. It’s like covid, if you pretend you can’t get long covid, then you can’t.
Keep prepping. I will plan to wait for Musk et al cyanide. And if it isn’t coming, guess I will buy a gun for 2040…
My wife and I are almost 68. I've been watching climate and weather for the last few decades. I've seen in my own lifetime how things have worsened. We'll likely be gone before things get really bad, or because things got really bad soon. I fear for our kids, grandkids, and now recent great great grandkid. What horrors they will live to see. The weight of the oncoming existential catastrophe is almost unbearable at times. I have grandsons that are almost of age to be drafted.
Knowing and accepting what's coming takes both the rational and emotional sides of us. The rational side sees, understands, and preps. The emotional side feels, copes, and tries to dispel the stress and suffering that is caused by understanding and accepting. We all have way of coping, good and bad.
I'm not completely convinced humans won't survive in low tech settlements at very high latitudes. I won't be around to see. The high tech fools may survive in their hidey holes for a while, but they will collapse around them over time. I think we know the answer to the Fermi Paradox now. There may be a few alien races that pass this Great Filter, but they're likely few and far between both in time and space. I keep remembering that Carl Sagan once said that the Cosmos is neither welcoming or hostile, merely indifferent to our survival.
Well said. Whether 100 percent of humans survive or not, who knows? I take the bet that humans will carry on for an indefinite period in very small numbers post 2050s.
Have you read - Under a Green Sky? it changed my life. I think you will appreciate it and yes i know how old it is and yes..... it is that important. I don't think i have made a book recommendation before. This is big picture stuff that even if you have maybe some of your readers might also appreciate.
https://a.co/d/igQFZyg
I'll check it out, thanks!
Interesting theories. I will be lucky to make it to the 2040's at my age. But your article, and others like it lately, are telling me that I need to have a conversation with my kids and grandkids and tell them what's coming. I am going to wait just a little bit longer until my grandkids are a little older. I have one granddaughter who just turned 17 but she lives in a fantasy world of her parents making so my lecture would go on deaf ears in that household. The others might listen though, if I time it right.
We all know it's coming. Those of us who pay attention anyway. For the others, it will only get their attention once they run out of food and/or a climate induced weather event finally makes them wake up. But we already know that it's too late even now. I think we're past the point of no return. With Trump stripping out all potential research and mitigation attempts, it's a foregone conclusion. At least in the United States and the 30 degrees of latitudes between the tropics around the equator to include central and south America, the middle east, southern China, Southeast Asia and so on. As I told someone else earlier today, I will live long enough to see the U.S. collapse into itself before I die, taking Canada with it, and maybe a couple of others. I could be wrong about Canada. They seem to be a bit more determined to move away from the U.S. now. I hope they do.
Mexico is already doing the same, along with most of the rest of the world now. it will take a few more years but some famous economists are all predicting a financial end to the once United States soon. The current fiscal situation is not sustainable in its current form.
No matter. If everything these scientists say comes true, none of that matters anyway. As you said, governments will topple and a new world order will come about. You might say it has already started.
It's a sad situation. I didn't have a stupid trade war on my bingo card, at least not until November 2024. Honestly, some of us might survive halfway okay if politicians would stop inflicting more "solutions" on us. Of course, they won't.
I've had that discussion with our grown daughters. One gets it. She and her family are preparing for it as best as they can. The other daughter...well, no. We're preparing as best as we can within our means. Financially, we might be able to emigrate, but we're staying for our kids and grandkids. They might find out why many successful societies value their seniors, unlike our own.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Terrance. Barring some unlikely and unexpected turnaround, Humanity is going to go through some horrifying times, possibly including being forced into small enclaves at high latitudes or extinction. Our rich, cave building citizens can't stay down there forever. The planet will take geological ages to recover, if it can. I think they're digging their own delayed graves. Perhaps they haven't read Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death."
I so appreciate the real deal post and the comments to it - it helps so much to know I am not alone in this despite feeling so very alone IRL.
I'm glad, and I agree the comments have been nice. Lots of people came out for this one.
In the west you prepare for wildfires, heat waves, lack of water, arctic blasts, frozen roads and sometimes snow
in the east you prepare for hurricanes, heat waves, short tempers, arctic blasts, frozen roads snow
In the heartland, flyover states tornadoes, heat waves, freezing rain storms, bad thunder storms, snow storms, arctic blasts an earthquake here and there
In each area we learn what to store and what not to store. We get basic medical kits, extra dog food, and water in jugs. We, who live outside of cities learn that wool blankets are the greatest, quilts can be used for putting up on windows to cut down on drafts.
If I can part a little bit of wisdom here it is, make friends with neighbors, pull together, kids count and old people have some valid solutions.
If the wealthy, beautiful people are building escape routes we can find them and either take resources we need, or die. Or you can make it so they can't get out. or poison their environment. Nasty thinking there, but survival for some.
If the earth gets too hot, you go underground, you find caves with water, rooms and you build from the bottom up. How many civilizations are below us? We will relearn the old ways.
Lastly if you want to be negative, depressing, you can be that. Some will hang around you and others, well, they will build something, alternatives to how we live now, and leave you behind. What you have to decide is whether you are going positive or negative into the future.
I agree, but also plans like moving to caves are smart--and they work as long as 8 billion other people don't try to do the same thing. I ended this essay on a note of rugged optimism, but I think it's weird to call myself positive or optimistic while counting on the fact that 90 percent of the world won't try to move in with me in my bat cave, and will instead just starve to death or die in heat domes... But yes, my take on the research is that we'll see a "soft" extinction that's more like a massive population collapse, 90 percent or greater over the next two decades. I'm trying to be positive, but I also don't want to be arrogant and assume I'll survive. Stuff happens, even when you're prepared.
I almost envision two, possibly three scenarios. Technology driven people, possibly transhumans living in a certain section of the world cut off from the rest of the world.
Second group smart survivors. They have guns, medical supplies, can farm, hunt, and stay hidden in whichever environment they are in, city verses, country, desert verses by the water. There are books, and some technology, but think Amish or Mennonites, only when necessary/emergencies only. Maybe linked up with other communities when needed, or warned about impending warring groups, medical emergencies or need.
Third group, Marauders. Think of people with no connections, living just for that day, surviving day to day. They take what they want and need. No; permanent base, tribe affiliation, morals when useful, constantly moving. Think of cowboy outlaws, or tv series, firefly.
The first group will try their hardest to get off the planet. They want their own world, own people and a closed society. Second group would prefer to stay here, a sense of home, family, support structure and known adversity whether it be weather, disease, marauders, bad seasons. Third group, will do both.
That is just me, that is if everything hits the fan.
There won’t be any hospitals for
People to go to. If medicare and medicaid
Are cut, 2,000,000 healthcare workers will be laid off. Hospitals are closing all the time.
It will be so much worse than the worst of covid. So many of us will
Die painfully from untreated sepsis. People die every summer from heat. The prisoners who die from heat have their deaths classified as “natural.” Many prisons and workplaces will become morgues. (They don’t have a/c)
The future is here.
Whether there are 1 or 10 billion, we don't survive without an equitable distribution of reliable energy.
Define "equitable distribution of reliable energy."
You mentioned Gaia Vince’s Nomad Century. But unlike the other books listed this one has a message of hope.
Yes it’s too late to stop the damage. But Artic regions will become habitable and will easily be able to accommodate the world’s population.
Plus we will be able to make happy productive and fair societies in mega cities, while we repair the climate - over a few hundred years.
This sails against the strong headwinds of the apocalyptic, sack cloth and ashes and general self-flagellation of the “we deserve punishment for modernity” message that comes with so much of the collapse rhetoric.
It would be interesting to hear your take on Vince’s thesis
Excellent recs, I'll check them out.