A disaster scenario to suit every taste . . .

The problem with global scales is that they invite global disasters. Today, a myriad of disasters is poised to strike a series of fatal blows to the global community, and at this late date there’s probably not much anyone can do to prevent them. Business as usual and play now, pay later mindsets have gotten us in too deep.

In the same way that people are blind to the idea that all things are connected, they’re also blind to the irony attached to approaching catastrophic events. Although the timeline and order of events might be a little bit skewed, the show looks something like this:

Industrialization leads to human greed leads to consumer culture leads to fossil fuel addiction leads to environmental destruction and war in the Middle East.

When the debt-financed U.S. economy collapses, economic shock waves circumnavigate the globe, toppling the economies of Europe, Asia and South America.

Global climate changes raise sea levels, which inundate coastal communities around the world and disrupt international shipping. Changing weather patterns cause floods, droughts and increasingly severe storms, which disrupt food production and distribution worldwide.

Fuel shortages cause a cessation of international air travel, but not before a few global pandemics infect all but the most isolated countries on Earth.

The Middle East war expands as 1st-world nations vie for remaining resources. Soon, the war goes “nukular” (as the idiot cowboy in the White House would say).

Had enough, yet?

Don’t worry, you will!

Right about the time an asteroid smashes into Earth, triggering an eruption of the supervolcano at Yellowstone Park.

It all makes going to hell in a handbasket look pretty good, doesn't it?