Reacting to the future

Recently I read the book The Collapse of Western Civilization by Naomi Orestes and Erik Conway. This piece of science based fiction written in the perspective of the future is by far one of the best books I have ever read. Orestes and Conway paint a clear picture of the natural disasters that occur throughout the world as a result of climate change; "by 2060 arctic summer ice was completely gone. scores of species perished, including the iconic polar bear-- the dodo bird of the 21st century" (Orestes, 28). Not to mention the disasters that lead to disease outbreaks, thousands of lives being lost, and massive food shortages, these disasters appear to real! However, as I read through some of these disaster stories from 2050 and beyond, I could not help but give a slight laugh. They seem so exaggerated and beyond reality, but in actuality the science supports these outcomes. My first reaction was wow this is like watching a science fiction based action movie, sitting at the edge of my seat, but as I continued to read I continued to be engaged in the fiction and how real it could become one day. What struck me most surprising about this piece of fiction was the epilogue, when China appears to be the most successful country amidst all of the disasters. That is not to say that I am surprised that China succeeded, but rather I interpret the first two paragraphs of the epilogue to show that our government must act in the way that China did (does) in order to survive this climate conundrum; We must move away from our centralized government and begin to make choices that could benefit the country and the world regardless of what the people want. This then opens up an entire new can of worms on the ethics of government intervention. For now, climate change is real, and we must take action to prevent disaster from occurring.