You’re right, of course. As Lynn Margulis, an eminent biologist, once observed, “Humans are an extraordinarily successful species, but such species never last long.” The reason is simple: once we outpace all our competitors, we inevitably overshoot the carrying capacity of our environment (in this case, the whole Earth) and then our population collapses. The collapse has already started, and will only accelerate from here. Unfortunately we will take most other complex species with us, and fungi and microbes and a few hardy plants will be left to reboot evolution after we’re gone. Between now and the last starved and miserable humans winking out, the best that the few remaining generations can do is to grow gardens, grow community, and grow awareness…by learning, teaching, healing, and creating; to cultivate our own and one another’s health, competence, and resilience for as long as we can, and—as Lao Tzu put it, “take care of everyone and abandon no one.” It helps to spend a few minutes every day just breathing, observing, and letting go, and then be kind and decent to others while we are still alive…