Most of those collapseologists who argue that the number is up for techno-industrial civilisation make use of global warming nonsense. But that is hardly going to bring the temple down, maybe make a few plants grow. However, there are those who reject global warming but still see the end as nigh, and Natural News is along these lines, having many critiques of global warming, but still publishing searching articles like this one:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-08-29-the-decline-of-industrial-civilization-has-already-begun.html
“Experts insist that the decline of industrial civilization has already begun, and its signs all echo the events that happened in the past, albeit with some differences. Notice how every single civilization and empire in the past had collapsed – Chinese, Egyptians, Incas, Greeks, Mayans, Mongols, and Romans? These civilizations showed common “symptoms” or trends during their decline: the destruction of the natural world, depletion of crucial resources (water, fertile soil, forests, etc.), famine, overpopulation, financial crisis, inequality, social and political unrest, invasion or war, and disease. Sound familiar? Indeed, these things are already happening today, and at an alarming rate. Our global industrial system currently has no room for expansion, the natural world is in crisis, and the logistics that keep our civilization running are now so complex that they are more fragile than ever.
Mega trends that signal the gradual decline of civilization
Experts warn that the world is much more likely to experience the effects of industrial collapse gradually rather than in one fell swoop. Different regions may experience different effects. The collapse may not impact everyone at the same time, and people may be affected in different ways depending on their social status. The following trends are showing signs of convergence, which would most likely lead to a “snowball” effect – the cascading collapse of systems and whole industries. Isolating one of these converging crises would require huge amounts of effort and coordination to stabilize or reverse even one of them.
Pollution (air and water, ocean acidification)
Despite ongoing efforts, the oceans become more acidic every year due to pollutants, and rivers become more polluted with human and household waste, industrial waste, and agricultural runoff. The skies are not faring any better. The atmosphere becomes more polluted with emissions from transportation, factories, processing plants, and power plants.
Environmental destruction (deforestation, habitat loss)
As different industries progress and expand, they make drastic changes to the natural world that are proving to be more difficult to reverse as time goes on. The world is losing 18.7 million acres of forests annually – equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute. Natural landscapes are also being over-exploited: woodlots are cleared for agriculture; agricultural lands for suburban development; and suburbs for urban areas.
Food and water crises
Water demand is increasing every year because of ever-expanding agriculture and oil extraction, which then lead to freshwater supplies and underground aquifers becoming more polluted with agricultural and industrial runoff. Fertilizers leaching nitrates can also make water unsuitable for drinking or irrigation. The rapid growth and expansion of agriculture are also contributing to soil degradation, erosion, and salinization from chemical-heavy farming. Despite this, there are only a handful of crops being grown to feed the world, which may not be sustainable long-term. Weather events or crop diseases could have a massive impact on yields, leading to crop failure. The growing population requires more food, but unlike in the past, when people could move to new land and cultivate new soil to boost food production, today, more than 98 percent of all land suitable for agriculture is either already in use or degraded beyond repair. The agricultural stress will result in frequent spikes in food prices and food shortfalls in the poorest countries. In a society confronted with starvation, food may very well become a commodity as important as ammunition.
Technological escalation (A.I., power grid, cyber warfare)
Modern civilization is extremely dependent on complex, fragile technologies like the electric grid and the internet. Few people remember how to function in a world without them. Because of technological escalation, our civilization has grown more and more complex and energy-dependent. Automated algorithms are now embedded into things like the stock market, traffic, distribution systems, the power grid, etc. Worse, the internet and computer systems have become weaponized; cyber warfare and internet propaganda are on the rise. Social media bots and election meddling are just some examples.
Overpopulation and economic inequality
Until very recently, the world’s population has skyrocketed: After the 1900s, human population exploded, courtesy of fossil fuels and synthetic fertilizers. As of 2018, the total global population is at 7.63 billion strong. By 2100, the U.N. estimates that the population will balloon to 11.18 billion, with 652.28 million consisting of children under the age of five. Such a growth rate has disrupted the economic balance, significantly tipping the scales in favor of the wealthiest people in the world. Currently, the world’s 26 richest people own as much as the poorest 3,750,000,000 people. So one person owns as much as 144,000,000 people, on average. This is a level of economic inequality never before seen in history.
Sixth mass extinction
Industrial civilization has caused a mass extinction crisis with a rate 1,000 times higher than normal. Animal populations have been decimated by 60 percent since 1970. “This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the world.” says a U.N. report on the accelerating rate of species extinction. These mega trends are already in motion, eroding the very foundations of economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide. TEOTWAWKI may just be beyond the horizon, so preparing yourself, your family, and your home for collapse is not just important – it has become imperative.”
Ok, I am not impressed by some things here such as referencing a UN report, because for me, everything they say is suspicious and should be put in the caution corner. Still, those environmental problems are all real, most due to overpopulation, not of the West, but the rest. We face a Camp of the Saints future, and the establishment gleefully is doing what it can to open the flood gates of doom. Hard times ahead will need hard men, and hard philosophies, as Friedrich Nietzsche said in Twilight of the Idols:
“"Why so hard?" the kitchen coal once said to the diamond. "After all, are we not close kin?" Why so soft? O my brothers, thus I ask you: are you not after all my brothers? Why so soft, so pliant and yielding? Why is there so much denial, self-denial, in your hearts? So little destiny in your eyes? And if you do not want to be destinies and inexorable ones, how can you one day triumph with me? And if your hardness does not wish to flash and cut through, how can you one day create with me? For all creators are hard. And it must seem blessedness to you to impress your hand on millennia as on wax. Blessedness to write on the will of millennia as on bronze — harder than bronze, nobler than bronze. Only the noblest is altogether hard.”
My brothers, become hard as Fred said. Bits and pieces, so to speak:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/idaho-ordered-pay-pedophile-sex-offenders-gender-reassignment-surgery
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-29/entire-world-about-be-shaken-unprecedented-ways
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-29/look-ass-her-new-biography-reveals-michael-bloombergs-history-sexist-comments-dirty
Old Mike certainly has a sense of humour, even if it is a bit politically incorrect. If only he liked guns!