> a gradual decline in population, growth, and economic activity
No time for that, probably. And it's not even on the horizon ... all policies have economic growth encoded in them. We're not even thinking about slowing down.
We're not talking about/doing degrowth, afforesting, reforming industrial agriculture, abolishing animal agriculture, making a dent if fossil fuel consumption, stopping overfishing and biodiversity loss ... we don't really do anything, instead just dream of blocking the sun with sulphuric aerosols and leaving for another planets.
Hard crash, and soon, would be probably better. More resources for the civilization that comes after this one.
Humans have figured it out many times in history how to live sustainably but keep forgetting. When the Europeans came to the Americas, they found people living sustainably. They thought these people were primitive and have never experienced civilization. Well, it turns out they were the people that remained after civilization collapse and have adapted to live sustainably so they wouldn't repeat what the Europeans created. North and South America had, at some time, cities far larger than any in Europe before those civilizations collapsed. For example, the mound builders along the Mississippi.
What's different today is we have now a GLOBAL civilization thanks to globalization. With many of the same features across people's and economies. Humans have never dealt with global risk like we do today.
> We're going to have to figure this sustainability thing out though
It may be already late. I wish it wasn't so. I think we could have chance at repairing it ... if only we would do what's necessary. But we're not doing what's necessary, we never started even discussing it, and I'm starting to doubt that we'll ever do. We're talking only about climate change, but that's only one of the symptoms of the overshoot. Even people @ hacker news mostly don't have a clue.
> we can't just ignore the problems
We've been ignoring them for 50-70 years. The limits to growth / club of Rome was in 1972? So far ... we did nothing but ignored the problems.
We may cross the 1.5C threshold in 5 years. Not in 2050 as previously expected, but in 5 years. And we're still pursuing economic growth. Have you noticed any evidence to the contrary lately?
> it's going to be a big challenge, and things may get ugly
I recommend few videos for you. I must warn you ... it may hamper your ability to enjoy parties.
Collapse: The Only Realistic Scenario - Arthur Keller
Yep, that's me ;)
> a gradual decline in population, growth, and economic activity
No time for that, probably. And it's not even on the horizon ... all policies have economic growth encoded in them. We're not even thinking about slowing down.
We're not talking about/doing degrowth, afforesting, reforming industrial agriculture, abolishing animal agriculture, making a dent if fossil fuel consumption, stopping overfishing and biodiversity loss ... we don't really do anything, instead just dream of blocking the sun with sulphuric aerosols and leaving for another planets.
Hard crash, and soon, would be probably better. More resources for the civilization that comes after this one.