Is society about to collapse?

Modern society could collapse this century according to a dire new report warning about the dangers of human-driven climate change. Thousands of scientists have signed their names to the report but what are they warning about?

Our planet has entered into what the authors of the report are calling uncharted territory and warned that record-breaking climate extremes could be the catalyst for widespread societal collapse within the century if nothing changes.  

The 2023 State of the Climate Report: Entering Uncharted Territory was published in the journal Bioscience and twelve global climate researchers brought together a new set of worrying facts that indicated things are getting scary. Vice reported that 15,000 other climate researchers have signed onto the findings. 

One of the key findings of the report was the revelation that several of Earth’s vital signs have worsened beyond anything humanity has ever had to deal with, according to a press release on the report from Oregon State University.

Things are so bad that they now threaten life on the planet, and that isn’t hyperbole. The world really could come to an end if something isn’t done now to address the underlying cause of human-driven climate change on the planet according to the report. 

“Life on planet Earth is under siege,” the authors of the climate report explained “We are now in an uncharted territory. For several decades, scientists have consistently warned of a future marked by extreme climatic conditions.”

The authors continued by noting that escalating global temperatures caused by humans and their activities had released harmful greenhouse gasses into the world’s atmosphere and that is what caused the climate’s extremes. 

“Unfortunately, time is up. We are seeing the manifestation of those predictions as an alarming and unprecedented succession of climate records are broken, causing profoundly distressing scenes of suffering to unfold,” the authors added. 

The report reviewed thirty key planetary vital signs first proposed in an earlier version of the same report in 2020 and found that twenty-five of the Earth’s key vital signs were at record extremes never seen before by science. 

“The trends reveal new all-time climate-related records and deeply concerning patterns of climate-related disasters,” the report’s authors wrote, adding that humanity has made minimal progress in combating climate change. 

Luckily, the report wasn’t all doom and gloom. The authors provided real policy solution suggestions that could be implemented in order to help avert the possible societal collapse that they predicted if things continue to get worse. 

Some of the policy recommendations included calling for a refocusing of the problem to address issues of “overexploitation and biodiversity decline” and they called for an end to “the prevailing notion of endless growth.”

The authors also noted that the world needed to reduce resource overconsumption and reduce, reuse, and recycle waste in a way that created a more circular economy. It was also recommended that the world focus on human flourishing and sustainability. 

The stabilization of the world’s population and its eventual gradual reduction via gender justice and voluntary family planning were also called by the authors, steps which they believe are necessary in order to change the planet’s climate future. 

“Without actions that address the root problem of humanity taking more from the Earth than it can safely give, we’re on our way to the potential partial collapse of natural and socioeconomic systems,” said report co-author William Ripple. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @WilliamJRipple

Ripple is a professor at Oregon State University College of Forestry and was quoted by the university in their press release as saying that the world was under siege. “The statistical trends show deeply alarming patterns,” Ripple stated. 

“As scientists, we are hugely troubled by the sudden increases in the frequency and severity of climate-related disasters,” said co-author Dr. Christopher Wolf. “The frequency and severity of those disasters might be outpacing rising temperatures.”

“By the end of the 21st century, many regions may have severe heat, limited food availability, and elevated mortality rates,” Dr. Wolf added, which is a situation that really could lead to the collapse of society.