Islands one and all ...

Credit: CCO Public Domain

The potential collapse of civilization becomes real given just how powerful an impact global warming will have on earth Earth as we move further into the future. Earth itself will survive as nature finds a way but for civilization to remain a viable enterprise becomes problematic at best. Presently, New Zealand seems to be the best bet to ride out a most violent storm of our own making based on recent research posted in the journal of Sustainability.

New research has examined the factors that could lead to the collapse of global civilisation, with New Zealand identified as the country most resilient to future threats.

The study, carried out by Nick King and Professor Aled Jones of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), focuses on "de-complexification"—a widespread reversal of the trends of recent civilisation, potentially seeing the collapse of supply chains, international agreements and global financial structures.

Islands one and all ...

The study identified five countries with the most favorable starting conditions to survive a global collapse by examining self-sufficiency (energy and manufacturing infrastructure), carrying capacity (land available for arable farming and overall population) and isolation (distance from other large population centers which may be subject to displacement events).

It found that New Zealand—along with Iceland, the United Kingdom, Australia (specifically Tasmania) and Ireland—were the nations currently most suited to maintaining higher levels of societal, technological, and organizational complexity within their own borders if a global collapse were to happen.

All five are islands or island continents, with strong oceanic climatic influence. They currently have low temperature and precipitation variability and therefore have the greatest likelihood of relatively stable conditions continuing despite the effects of climate change.

Reassuring is it not?