Climate Crisis, Collapse of Civilization

The climate crisis, intertwined with ecological overshoot and human denial, stands as humanity’s most existential threat. It is not merely a scientific or environmental issue but a profound cultural and systemic failure rooted in narratives of conflict, supremacy, and infinite growth. These narratives, which misunderstand humanity’s place within Earth’s interconnected superorganism, have fueled denial, delayed action, and pushed civilization toward collapse. From the privatization of emergency response systems to the failure of energy transitions, from the despair of climate scientists to the ecological devastation wrought by industrial greed, this crisis reflects humanity’s inability to align with the reality of life on Earth. Compounding this are societal trends like declining cognitive capacities and the normalization of authoritarianism, which further erode our ability to respond effectively.

Life on Earth began 3.8 billion years ago with a single cell, the common ancestor of all species. Over millennia, this cell diverged into millions of life forms, yet remained interconnected through a complex web of cooperation and competition, forming a superorganism. Recent biological discoveries, such as lateral gene transfer, reveal a shared genetic library across species, underscoring this unity. However, humanity’s focus on conflict and supremacy has obscured this interconnectedness. Traditional science, fixated on cataloguing species as discrete entities, has viewed ecosystems as battlegrounds of predators and prey rather than a harmonious whole.

This narrative of “man versus wilderness” casts nature as an enemy to be tamed, justifying the exploitation of ecosystems and the extinction of countless species. Rooted in biochauvinism, racism, and colonialism, this mindset has driven economic systems from slavery to necrocapitalism, where inequality and destruction are monetized. The climate crisis is the consequence of this fabricated war, a self-inflicted wound born of the belief that humanity can dominate nature without consequence. By poisoning the primordial soup—the shared genetic pool that sustains all life—humanity is eroding the foundation of its own survival.

The Human Cost: A Scientist’s Despair

The personal toll of the climate crisis is vividly captured in the story of a climate scientist grappling with global warming’s reality. On a swelteringly unbearable Labor Day backpacking trip in California, with temperatures soaring to 110°F, the scientist witnessed lizards frying on rocks and songbirds falling from the sky. His family’s frustration mirrored society’s broader failure to grasp the crisis’s immediacy. Despite decades of warnings—through articles, op-eds, and social media—his efforts met with indifference, echoing Jan Karski’s futile attempts to alert the world to Nazi atrocities in 1943. His wife, Sharon, a high school teacher, struggled to reconcile his obsession with her need for normalcy, highlighting the personal cost of confronting climate truth.

The scientist’s attempts to live sustainably—composting, growing food, converting a car to biodiesel—were heroic but insufficient, underscoring the mismatch between individual action and systemic challenges. His older son’s nihilistic question—“What future?”—and his younger son’s climate strikes reflect a generational divide: despair versus activism, both born of the same crisis. This despair mirrors a broader societal pattern of denial, where humanity rationalizes and turns away from the catastrophe despite warnings dating back to Eunice Foote’s 1856 experiment linking CO₂ to warming and Exxon’s suppressed findings in the 1970s.

Scientific evidence paints a dire picture. A 2025 study projects global warming exceeding 3°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050, far surpassing the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target. Driven by rising emissions and economic growth outpacing efficiency gains, this trajectory promises catastrophic impacts: near-total loss of coral reefs, over half a meter of sea level rise by 2100, and 10–25% drops in agricultural yields. These effects, intensifying from the 2030s, could lead to billions of deaths from hunger, heat stress, disease, and conflict. James Hansen warns that the planet’s CO₂ sensitivity is around 4.5°C for a doubling of CO₂, accelerated by feedback loops like thinning clouds that amplify warming.

The fossil fuel era, powering 82% of global energy, is nearing its end. Oil production, peaking in 2018, is projected to halve by 2050, with coal and natural gas facing similar declines. Renewables, however, remain dependent on fossil fuels for mining and manufacturing, and experts like Vaclav Smil deem a full energy transition impossible. Between 1997 and 2022, global fossil fuel consumption surged 55%, and the infrastructure for a carbon-free world—80 million kilometers of new transmission lines, massive mineral extraction—remains unfeasible. Green hydrogen production for steel and ammonia would require 86% of 2022’s global electricity, highlighting the scale of the challenge.

Political and Economic Barriers

Political denial exacerbates the crisis. In the US, the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate FEMA by December 2025 and privatize emergency response systems—termed “briberization”—turns disasters into profit centers, prioritizing corporate gain over human lives. The administration’s attempt to roll back the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which classifies greenhouse gases as pollutants, defies legal precedent and global trends. Internationally, courts like the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea recognize climate change as a human rights violation and marine pollution, respectively, imposing obligations on nations and companies. The US, however, remains an outlier, shirking responsibility and burdening future generations.

The fossil fuel industry, aware of climate impacts since the 1950s, has suppressed evidence and promoted false solutions like carbon capture, which captures just 0.1% of emissions. Subsidies and unpriced externalities—$760 billion annually—prop up profits, with Exxon earning $6.3 million per hour in 2022. Meanwhile, mining for renewables, such as Chile’s declining copper ore quality, generates 100 billion tons of waste rock for 600 million tons of metal, feeding ecological overshoot.

Compounding the crisis is a documented decline in cognitive abilities. A 2025 study by Julian Cribb notes a 15-point IQ drop over half a century, linked to chemical exposure and societal stressors like the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Nottingham’s research, published in Nature Communications, found accelerated brain aging during the pandemic, particularly among older people, men, and disadvantaged groups, due to stress and isolation. This cognitive erosion, exacerbated by 350,000 untested chemicals, correlates with rising neurological disorders and weakens society’s capacity to address complex challenges like climate change. These trends amplify the influence of misguided narratives, making populations more susceptible to denial and manipulation.

Hannah Ritchie’s 2025 analysis debunks population growth as a significant driver of climate change. Global fertility rates have halved over the past half-century to just over two children per woman, nearing the replacement rate. The UN projects a population peak in the 2080s, with some demographers predicting an earlier peak. Modeling two scenarios—depopulation (the current path) and stabilization (continued growth)—shows a 2 billion population difference by 2100 and 6 billion by 2200. Yet, even with a pessimistic decarbonization rate (1.8% annual emissions reduction), the temperature difference is just 0.1°C by 2200, as per capita emissions drop significantly by the time population differences emerge. In a rapid decarbonization scenario, the impact is even smaller. Extreme population control measures, like a one-child policy, are inhumane and too slow to affect emissions within the critical timeframe for net-zero goals (2050–2070). Thus, population policy is not an effective climate strategy; decarbonization is the priority.

JM Smith’s 2025 essay describes climate change as the “bastard child of capitalism and neoliberalism,” normalizing horror through the pursuit of wealth. Extreme heat waves have tripled since the 1960s, yet denial persists, akin to dismissing homelessness or fascism. Western leaders, like Canada’s Mark Carney, prioritize oil-driven economic growth over climate action, betting on technology to save the elite while the masses face a “poisonous” Earth. This denial, rooted in the same conflict-driven narratives that justify exploitation, has led to the genocide of species and ecosystems, erasing 3.8 billion years of evolutionary history.

The Sloth Economy: A Thought Experiment

The collapse of complex societies, marked by scarcity of fossil fuels, reduced social complexity, population, and technology, is not a singular event but a protracted series of crises lasting decades.The banking sector, built on the illusion of infinite growth, faces collapse as debt becomes unpayable in a contracting economy. Hyperinflation and currency crises loom, reminiscent of post-WWI Germany. Western societies, particularly in Europe, may experience a Russia-style economic depression, with shattered illusions of supremacy and rising political chaos. Yet, post-collapse, societies could reorganize.

The sloth economy prioritizes resource conservation for agriculture, housing, and clothing over growth. However, the maximum power principle—where nations maximize energy use for competitive advantage—renders this unfeasible. Industrialized nations, having depleted low-cost resources, face inevitable decline as energy returns diminish. Widespread hunger is likely as fertilizer and fuel shortages disrupt agriculture.

The Path Forward: A New Biocivilization

The climate crisis is a cultural failure, rooted in narratives that pit humanity against nature. To avert collapse, we must dismantle these myths and embrace humanity’s role as a fragment of the superorganism. This requires humility, recognizing our shared origins with all life, and practical steps: halting fossil fuel subsidies, redirecting resources to sustainable agriculture, and prioritizing resilience over profit. The sloth economy, while idealistic, points to a mindset shift—slowing consumption and valuing interconnectedness. Politically, resistance to authoritarianism, as seen in the Trump administration’s actions, is critical. The federal takeover of Washington, DC, and ICE’s expansion into a domestic military force signal a broader erosion of democratic norms, enabled by narratives of supremacy and fear.

The climate crisis, with its accelerating warming, resource depletion, and ecological collapse, is the consequence of humanity’s failure to align with Earth’s superorganism. Denial, greed, and conflict-driven narratives have pushed civilization to the brink, compounded by cognitive decline and authoritarian trends. Scientists’ despair, political inaction, and corporate profiteering underscore the urgency of change. By embracing unity over conflict, humanity can forge a biocivilization that prioritizes coexistence and resilience. The alternative is a world where the superorganism—including humanity—fades into extinction, a tragedy of our own making, which seems more likely with each passing day. Eat, drink (low on the food chain) and be merry…