One solution is to do nothing at all–the free market solution.

Since global ecological catastrophe will be very expensive to prevent, and any measures we do take will not have a return on investment for a very long time and the benefits will only accrue to future generations, its unlikely any effort will be made to do anything to stop it. Don’t look for a solution from the private sector. There won’t be any money in it for them. They will fight to keep the status quo until the very last moment.

Besides, getting everybody on board to chip in their fair share will be next to impossible. Those foolish enough to undertake the task on their own will fail because they will not be able to compete with those who choose instead to take advantage of the emergency to advance their own parochial interests.

There may be short-term fortunes to be made in selling short-term protection from the catastrophe for those few who can afford it (stockpiling food in nuclear-powered isolated fortress communities, that sort of thing). They, and the North American survivalist community will soon fall apart. Without internal combustion and ammunition, they’ll be resorting to cannibalism as soon as the canned goods run out and the locusts raid their gardens.

A global solution that provides the greatest benefit to the greatest number will probably not materialize without a dictatorial government with brutal and total power. I.e., the way the Nazis, Japanese and Soviets fought WWII. We never sank to that level of desperation because we had the time and resources to build up a strong defense without sacrificng too many of our freedoms.

This is what I believe will happen, unless some magic technological fix intervenes, like cheap, safe fusion power. Lacking that, what we can expect is environmental deterioration leading to decline in agricultural and industial productivity, a breakdown in the world economy and trade, leading to financial distress, social unrest, civil strife, and eventually war as nations compete for diminishing resources. In a way, isn’t that what we are already witnessing?

On the bright side, I have confidence that the world’s natural systems will not collapse, they will simply adjust to the new climate conditions. It will be our integrated global high tech economy that will not be able to adjust. It won’t be from lack of technical capability, it will be because too many competing interests will refuse to take on the necessary sacrifices, and because they will seek instead to profit from the desperation of those with something to lose. Aren’t we already starting to witness that, too?

When the dust settles, we will see a world depopulated, operating at a much lower level of technology and trade. It will be a lot like the aftermath of the fall of Rome. Contrary to popular belief, the world did not fall into barbarism, we got a feudal society operated by a collection of small, independent states, trading and fighting with their closest neighbors, and ruled by a bunch of local bigshots. The role of the Catholic Church will probably be taken up by Islam. They are geared up mentally for feudalism.

This is what always happens when the Empire falls. It happened in Europe in the Middle Ages, in China during the time of the warlords, in Japan under the Shoguns, In the Mediterranean basin when the Mycenaean Age ended, India under the Moguls, it is the most stable form of human government. It’s just not a very fun time to live in. This is not the first time this has happened, folks. Its just the first time its happened to the whole planet at once.

The nations that survive will be those who still have large populations with the skills to live at subsistence levels, where people still know how to grow their own food, build their own houses, make their own clothes, raise livestock, work metals, all without technological aid. I’m betting on village cultures like India, Africa, SE Asia, Latin America, maybe China.

And it will all be TB’s fault because he didn’t give Jim Hansen a chance.