While most conversations about global warming end with concern about the possible extinction of the human race, long before that happens, nation after nation around the world will collapse, leading to a larger collapse of civilization itself.

When we look at the last 50,000 years of human history, we see that time after time, cultures eat everything that's edible and destroy their local ecosystems, producing famine and violence. Out of this, some societies remain stuck in cannibalism and difficulty; others opt for an ecological way out of their problems and their societies become successful and peaceful and in ecological balance. From the people of New Zealand, to New Caledonia, to the original people of North America and Australia, we have seen these patterns and choices repeated over and over.

Now, as we face our own ecological crisis that will almost certainly lead our civilization to collapse, the question is: Will we emerge from it more warlike, or peaceful and ecological?

-Thom