“Researchers said human civilisation was ‘in a perilous state’ due to the highly interconnected and energy-intensive society that had developed and the environmental damage this had caused. A collapse could arise from shocks, such as a severe financial crisis, the impacts of the climate crisis, destruction of nature, an even worse pandemic than Covid-19 or a combination of these, the scientists said.
“To
assess which nations would be most resilient to such a collapse, countries were
ranked according to their ability to grow food for their population, protect
their borders from unwanted mass migration, and maintain an electrical grid and
some manufacturing ability. Islands in temperate regions and mostly with low
population densities came out on top.
“The researchers said their study highlighted the factors that nations must improve to increase resilience. They said that a globalised society that prized economic efficiency damaged resilience, and that spare capacity needed to exist in food and other vital sectors.
“Billionaires have been reported to be buying land for bunkers in New Zealand in preparation for an apocalypse. “We weren’t surprised New Zealand was on our list,” said Prof Aled Jones, at the Global Sustainability Institute, at Anglia Ruskin University, in the UK. Jones added: ‘We chose that you had to be able to protect borders and places had to be temperate. So with hindsight it’s quite obvious that large islands with complex societies on them already [make up the list]. We were quite surprised the UK came out strongly. It is densely populated, has traditionally outsourced manufacturing, hasn’t been the quickest to develop renewable technology, and only produces 50% of its own food at the moment. But it has the potential to withstand shocks.’
“The
study, published in the journal Sustainability, said: ‘The
globe-spanning, energy-intensive industrial civilisation that characterises the
modern era represents an anomalous situation when it is considered against the
majority of human history.’ The study also said, that due to environmental
destruction, limited resources, and population growth: ‘The [academic]
literature paints a picture of human civilisation that is in a perilous state, with
large and growing risks developing in multiple spheres of the human endeavour.’
“Places
that did not suffer ‘the most egregious effects of societal collapses and are
therefore able to maintain significant populations” have been described as
“collapse lifeboats,’ the study said. New Zealand was found to have the
greatest potential to survive relatively unscathed due to its geothermal and
hydroelectric energy, abundant agricultural land and low human population
density.
“Jones
said major global food losses, a financial crisis and a pandemic had all
happened in recent years, and ‘we’ve been lucky that things haven’t all
happened at the same time – there’s no real reason why they can’t all happen in
the same year.’
“He added: ‘As you start to see these events happening, I get more worried but I also hope we can learn more quickly than we have in the past that resilience is important. With everyone talking about ‘building back better’ from the pandemic, if we don’t lose that momentum I might be more optimistic than I have been in the past.’
“He said the coronavirus pandemic had shown that governments could act quickly when needed. ‘It’s interesting how quickly we can close borders, and how quickly governments can make decisions to change things.’ But he added: ‘This drive for just-in-time, ever-more efficient, economies aren’t the thing you want to do for resilience. We need to build in some slack in the system, so that if there is a shock then you have the ability to respond because you’ve got spare capacity. We need to start thinking about resilience much more in global planning. But obviously, the ideal thing is that a quick collapse doesn’t happen’” (The Conversation).
by
Damian Carrington, Environmental Editor
I remember when people dug bunkers underground in their backyards with a 30 day supply of army rations, water and a gyn to fend off marauding neighbors in case of a nuclear attack.
ReplyDeleteIt's no more absurd than hiding from unendurable heat, firenados, electrical failures, undrinkable water, inoperable supply chains of food and medical necessities, pestilence, and mass migrations of millions of people in our not too distant future.