Our Uncertain Future Archives

Point of no return’ for Earth is getting closer as our ‘hothouse planet’ boils

A team of scientists has warned we could be reaching a number of tipping points that might trigger runaway heating and a devastating and 'disruptive' future for humanity Earth is teetering on the brink of a climate “point of no return” and scientists reckon we may be far closer than anyone thought. If global

Why is the UK so rainy this year and how is the climate crisis making matters worse?

It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end. With more than 100 flood warnings in

I’m a prepping expert – this is how I’m getting ready for water shortages

From the age of 16, Tom Blakey was in the British Army’s Parachute Regiment. After 25 years of regular service, he spent another eight years as a reservist. The regiment’s motto, Utrinque Paratus – Ready for Anything – remains front of mind in his daily life, even though he’s now 54 and no longer

The UK government didn’t want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I’m not surprised

It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication I know it’s almost impossible to turn your eyes away from the Trump show, but that’s the point. His antics, ever-grosser and more preposterous, are designed to keep him in our minds,

What happens when the taps run dry? England is about to find out

You get up and go to the loo, only to find the flush doesn’t work. You try the shower, except nothing comes out. You want a glass of water, but on turning the tap there is not a drop. Your day stumbles on, stripped of its essentials: no washing hands, no cleaning up the

Fatal delusions and the curse of ‘maximum power’

‘When spectacular success spells calamitous failure’ What is real? One of humanity’s more curious traits is an unlimited capacity for self-delusion. And if you don’t think you are delusional, you are doubly deluded. There are numerous causes of this enigma, many springing from basic human nature. Perhaps the most obvious is that human groups

Flooded and forgotten: the UK’s waters are rising and we’re being kept in the dark

Rescue operations in Wales, submerged railway lines in Cornwall – these events are ever more common. So why have we utterly failed to prepare? As autumn blurs into winter, the news is once again filling up with a familiar story: overflowing rivers, inundated streets and overwhelmed infrastructure. Since Friday, England, Wales and Ireland have

Our hunter-gatherer future: Climate change, agriculture and uncivilization

Highlights The stable climate of the Holocene made agriculture and civilization possible. The unstable Pleistocene climate made it impossible before then. Human societies after agriculture were characterized by overshoot and collapse. Climate change frequently drove these collapses. Business-as-usual estimates indicate that the climate will warm by 3°C-4 °C by 2100 and by as much as

Iran faces unprecedented drought as water crisis hits Tehran

Iran - especially its capital, Tehran - is facing an unprecedented drought this autumn, with rainfall at record lows and reservoirs nearly empty. Officials are pleading with citizens to conserve water as the crisis deepens. President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that if there is not enough rainfall soon, Tehran's water supply could be rationed.

Life On The Slippery Slope

Two scenarios for what a world with a declining resource and energy availability could look like We, the lucky 1 billion living affluent lives, are completely technology-blind. We take all what has been discovered, developed and scaled up in the past as a given for eons to come. Electricity. Food in the supermarket. Gas

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