I never thought I’d live to see a day when “one billion deaths” in the next 20 years seemed optimistic—but here we are, and you are very persuasive in both your well-researched predictions and your suggestions for ameliorating our dire global plight. I don’t share your confidence in fusion as a panacea, however; the build-out of its infrastructure would take a lot of readily available net energy (i.e. fossil fuels) which have already overheated the planet beyond many tipping points.

A more adaptive approach would be a systematic downsizing. David Holmgren, cofounder of the Permaculture movement, has many useful insights about how to go about this, starting in our own backyards. Check out his book, Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. He is a systemic thinker par excellence.