I'm fairly convinced that the status quo can do nothing to prevent the collapse of complex industrial society. Obviously it's a complicated topic, but if you assume the position that by 2030 there will be dramatic, uncontrollable warming of the planet (and all of the side effects that will bring), what is to be done to prevent that?
As a guy with a decent work-from-home kind of job (for now) and enough resources to be comfortable, it's been incredibly tempting during quarantine to think about building a house off the grid, finding a stable source of drinking water, and building a sustainable farming homestead in rural America. 2020 has demonstrated that things don't always just work out. I'm worried about the precarious material conditions that pervade contemporary urban culture (at least from the perspective of sustainability if food/water/power systems are interrupted). And I know I could develop the skills I need to live like that.
But obviously, something can be done to prevent a collapse. We could work together to ensure the stability of urban environments, and produce all of the energy and matetials we need here, locally. We could put everyone to work with this goal in mind. We could build a better world collectively.
But how? How do I find a group of people to work with? How do I convince the liberals who just shrug and say, man, isn't it just terrible that trump is in charge? How do I find anyone who's thinking about this shit, and realizes that actually yes, this can all fall apart. Things are not as stable as they seem. Climate change is literally the only issue that matters in any time frame beyond 10 years.
What is next? What is there to do?
Luckily that's less farmland than we could just let back into the wild today if more-or-less everyone switched to vegetarianism/veganism
Yes, but recall that the ones that are going are mostly our high yield food production ones, and the surviving ones are going to have to learn how to farm without things like seasons, carbon intensive fertiliser production, or reliable pollinators. All remaining meat production is either going to be grass fed or invertebrate, and it's going to be used because they aren't shipping grain there.
Check the optimistic map in the link, and colour everything above/below 60 degrees brown as well.
Ya, I live in a farming region and it's already become a lot harder to farm, because of the weather extremes. Month-long droughts are common, and then you'll get a whole summer's rain in two days. And it's only gonna get harder and harder! Good thing us hoomans are super flexible and resilient ;) :red-fist:
I'm confident we will survive with some kind of civilisation intact, and "everybody lives" is still within reach. But it's going to be a fun 500 years for sure.