When it all changed

The great change will affect everything from how we are governed to how we live our everyday lives. It is essential that we create global governance systems that can deal with disasters and enforce rules relating to energy use. We have to end military competition and claim the resources that go to this end for other purposes. Radically downsizing military forces and transforming them into emergency response resources is one obvious option.

There is no doubt that our lives will become harder and more precarious as extreme weather takes hold, but they may also become more meaningful. In many ways the best example of how things will change is what happened in World War Two. In a very short time totally different rules were put in place to fight 'the enemy' all around the world.

But oddly enough when people looked back on that time they often said that it was the best years of their lives because their lives had meaning. They had a challenge, everyone was in the same boat, and they just got on with it, enduring the most horrific experiences with astonishing bravery and resilience. World War Two only lasted seven years and defeating global warming will likely last many decades if not centuries, but the basic point is the same: human beings can do amazing things when they have to.

The first thing to do is to face up to the problem. The second thing is to find real leadership. The third is for us all to accept responsibility as individuals and get on with collective solutions.

If we fail to adequately respond to the threat of global warming there may be no historians to make judgements of any kinds. But hopefully they will be around and they'll say that after years of confusion and prevarication, 2019 was the year humanity woke up and seriously got going to save ourselves.