Excellent article. That's why I write science fiction, now closing in on my five book series Until This Last.

There must be a major die off of humans on the planet, since we cannot switch from an 80% reliance on fossil fuels fast enough to prevent the devastating effects of global warming. Global warming induced by the completely inefficient use of fossil fuels. Coal, oil and gas are relatively cheap ways to produce the energy we need to fun global economies, thus we've not understood that we need to use them efficiently.

Other than enforceable global rules that limit the use of fossil fuels, the only other alternative as the population goes above 8 million, is a die off.

What most of us don't realize is how much fossil fuels contribute to food production. Fossil fuels produce energy for the steel we use in agricultural machinery, as well as the ammonia we use in pesticides and fertilizers. We have turned food production into a high yield, high productivity business so we can feed the 8 billion and growing humans on this planet.

In language everyone can understand no amount of change at the political level can change these basic economic facts.

Let's hope a few of us humans make it through like I describe in my books and retain our science and technology, so human civilization doesn't have to start from ground zero.