We are so wrapped up in the trees that we can’t see the forest. It is an old saying that is especially true today. We are heavily involved with what are actually minor problems like the Covid 19 virus, protests, insurrections, and wars, and other issues of a short term. As the preachers from my youth used to say “All things shall pass.” All these things are minor in the history of the world.
What we need to remember is these are all passing and relatively minor events. One critical and long term issue is global warming causing climate change. Scientists have been forecasting a minimum scenario which has already been shown to be far too conservative. Realistically human culture and societies will change forever if we can continue to exist.
One possible climate change savior is something which could wipe us out. A huge plume of ash from a volcano of such size will lay waste to any region or continent on which it erupts. It could cause another ice age of a magnitude greater than the last one.
The most likely a super volcano is called the Yellowstone Caldera or Yellowstone National Park. It is overdue to erupt by a couple of hundred thousand years, No super volcano has erupted since primates started to mutate into human-like creatures. Yellowstone’s floor has been rising and tilting faster than in previous decades. It will erupt someday covering a large portion of the United States and Canada. The gases will rise up into the upper Troposphere and higher shielding the Earth from the sun’s rays, cooling the Earth’s surface for decades.
Other real catastrophes are a major earthquake in California or Missouri, a major tsumami on the Pacific coast, or other events making our current problems tiny in comparison. See, things can be a lot worse!
Commentary About the Blue Marble 