3 Futures. One Choice
Which future do you choose?
The World Peoples Congress exists to answer one question:
What would humanity decide if people — not states or corporations — had a vote?
(Work within existing political systems)
(No major structural changes)
(Emergency-level global response)
Your vote for [choice] has been received.
Immediate Climate Action: ~2060
Temperatures should drop from this peak with continuous action
Business As Usual: 2055-2065 temperature will continue to rise to 7C by 2100 potentially.
The Three Futures.
A briefing for humanity.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
Outcome: Total collapse within one human lifetime“Business as usual” is the active prioritization of current economic metrics over physical reality. Under this path, planetary warming does not merely rise — it accelerates, shifting from predictable linear change into compound, non-linear breakdown.---THE THRESHOLD OF FAILURE- Near-term acceleration: The reduction of industrial aerosols removes a temporary cooling effect, causing warming to speed up sooner than expected.
- ~3 °C world: Natural feedback loops begin to dominate the climate system, sharply reducing the possibility of human intervention.
- ~5 °C world: This is no longer a world of adaptation, but one of rapid biological and social dissolution.
- Carbon sink loss: Warming oceans and retreating ice weaken the planet’s ability to absorb carbon, accelerating atmospheric buildup.Once these thresholds are crossed, later action cannot reverse them.---THE CASCADE OF SYSTEMIC BREAKS- Agricultural collapse: Pollinator populations crash while heat-adapted pests thrive.
- The staple crop trap: Core calorie sources — corn, rice, and wheat — fail simultaneously under heat, drought, and pest pressure.
- Lethal zones: Vast tropical regions become uninhabitable due to heat stress alone.
- Mass displacement: Hundreds of millions to billions of people are forced into motion with no viable destinations remaining.Systems fail together, not sequentially.---THE PHYSICAL VERDICTThis is a physical outcome, not a moral judgment.
No amount of adaptation can outrun physics once these thresholds are crossed.If we choose to change nothing, this is what we choose.
GRADUAL POLITICAL REFORM
Outcome: Delay, not preventionThis is the path of “realism.” It is familiar, comfortable for markets, and politically digestible. But physics does not negotiate with political timelines. By prioritizing the stability of institutions over the stability of the biosphere, this path secures a managed collapse.---THE ILLUSION OF PROGRESS
Incrementalism is not a middle ground; it is a deferred catastrophe.- Late peaks: Emissions peak in the late 2030s, leaving the atmosphere saturated with cumulative heat.
- Phase-downs: Fossil fuels are “phased down” rather than eliminated, maintaining the flow of carbon into a fragile system.
- Technological reliance: Overreliance on carbon removal that fails to scale against cumulative warming.
- Systemic friction: Policy changes are tested and consulted until the window for efficacy has closed.---THE LOCKED-IN REALITY
Under this path, we do not escape the consequences; we simply shift their arrival.- Temperature peak: Global warming relentlessly climbs toward 3–4 °C.
- Biophysical tipping: Irreversible loss of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets.
- Migration crisis: Extreme heat and sea-level rise displace over one billion people.
- Agricultural failure: Global food insecurity emerges as breadbasket regions succumb to multi-year droughts.---A GENERATION FORFEITED
This path does not protect our children; it merely delays the precipice. A child born today encounters the same systemic collapse in midlife that they would have faced in early adulthood. The timeline stretches, but the destination remains the same.---THE SYSTEMIC FAILURE
Climate change responds to cumulative physical forcing, not political effort or good-faith compromise. Gradual reform preserves lifestyles today by spending the habitability of tomorrow. Delay is not prevention, and the climate grants no extensions.
IMMEDIATE CLIMATE ACTION
Outcome: Survival — at great costThis path is not a preference; it is a survival objective. It is difficult, disruptive, and politically uncomfortable. But it is the only path that preserves a living future.***THE PRICE OF ADMISSION
* Total Energy Transition: A rapid, non-negotiable halt of non-essential fossil fuel use.
* Emergency Mobilization: Massive, immediate deployment of renewables, storage, and demand reduction.
* Ecosystem Defense: Large-scale protection and restoration of the biosphere’s remaining lungs.
* Physical Limits: Governance that prioritizes planetary boundaries over short-term economic growth.***WHAT WE SECURE
Under this path, we do not achieve utopia, but we bound the catastrophe:* Temperature Peak: Global warming stabilized at ~2.5–2.7 °C.
* Feedbacks: Dangerous tipping points are weakened rather than unleashed.
* Refugia: Key tropical and temperate zones remain viable for human and non-human life.
* The Long Tail: Over centuries, temperatures begin a slow, managed decline toward ~1.5 °C.***WHAT WE MUST STILL ENDURE
We must be honest: this path reduces harm; it does not erase it. Even with immediate action, we face:
* Inexorable sea-level rise.
* The loss of historic coastlines and cities.
* A period of rationing and sacrifice.***THE ULTIMATE CHOICE
This is damage control at a planetary scale. It is the difference between a wounded world that can heal and a dead world that cannot.It is costly. But it is the only choice that leaves anything worth inheriting.
---DEEP DIVE: THE PERIL WE ARE INThe scenarios above summarize the biological and systemic trajectory of our current path. For the complete physical evidence and strategic analysis underlying this briefing, access the full foundational report.What the report covers:
- Non-linear feedbacks: The tipping points that remove the possibility of human intervention
- The long horizon: Why political timelines fail to account for biological survival
- Strategic requirements: The institutional shifts required to preserve a living future
Business as Usual 2055 AD
Species Loss in Business as usual
Business as Usual 2037 AD
Incremental Reform Climate Future
In Incremental Reform 2.5-.2.7C arrives in the mid 2030s.
In Incremental Reform 4.5C arrives in 2065-2070
GRADUAL POLITICAL REFORM
What changes — and what does notGradual political reform is not denial.
It is not indifference.It is the belief that climate collapse can be managed through existing institutions, market incentives, and negotiated timelines.In the U.S. context, this path roughly corresponds to mainstream climate policy: regulations, clean-energy subsidies, emissions targets, and international agreements — without emergency limits on consumption or growth.Compared to Business as Usual, this path does change outcomes.
But it does not change the destination.---HOW GRADUAL REFORM DIFFERS FROM BUSINESS AS USUALIncremental reform slows the crash.
It does not stop it.Under this path:
- Emissions peak earlier than under outright denial
- Renewable energy deployment accelerates
- Some efficiency gains reduce near-term damage
- The worst impacts arrive later rather than soonerThis matters.
Millions of lives are affected by when impacts arrive.But climate physics responds to cumulative heat, not political intent.---THE CORE CONSTRAINT: TIME AND ACCUMULATIONEven under optimistic reform scenarios:
- Fossil fuels are phased down, not eliminated
- Emissions decline too slowly to prevent feedback activation
- Carbon removal is assumed to scale beyond proven limits
- Ecosystems continue degrading during the transitionThe atmosphere keeps warming while policy negotiates.The result is a world where:
- ~2.5–2.7 °C is reached by the mid-2030s
- Feedbacks strengthen rather than stabilize
- 3–4 °C becomes likely later this centuryAt those levels, key Earth systems do not recover — even if emissions later fall.---WHAT “DELAY” ACTUALLY MEANSDelay does not mean safety postponed.
It means consequences reassigned.Under gradual reform:
- Ice-sheet loss becomes locked in
- Sea-level rise continues for centuries
- Large regions of the tropics and subtropics fail
- Global food systems destabilize
- Mass migration becomes unavoidableA child born today still encounters systemic collapse —
just later in life instead of earlier.The timeline stretches.
The physics does not.---WHY THIS PATH PERSISTSGradual reform feels responsible because it:
- Preserves economic continuity
- Avoids hard limits on consumption
- Minimizes political disruption
- Aligns with existing power structuresIt stabilizes society in the short term —
and destabilizes the biosphere in the long term.This is not cowardice.
It is a misunderstanding of non-linear systems.---THE HARD TRUTHClimate stabilization is not a policy preference.
It is a physical requirement.Incremental reform improves outcomes relative to denial —
but it still spends the future to protect the present.Delay is not prevention.
And the climate grants no extensions.---WHERE THIS LEAVES USIf gradual reform is the most we are willing to do,
we must be honest about what it buys — and what it forfeits.If we are willing to do more,
then Immediate Climate Action is not radical.It is simply the scale of response that physics demands.
How we reach the World - Fast
1. Register to participate in the World Peoples Congress
2. Choose the future you want
3. Tell 10 people you trust to do the same
4. Ask each of them to tell 10 more
Peak Heat 2045-2065 Immediate Climate Action Result to...
Goal Of Action Long Term Climate Future 2250 AD
---DEEP DIVE: THE PERIL WE ARE INThe scenarios above summarize the biological and systemic trajectory of our current path. For the complete physical evidence and strategic analysis underlying this briefing, access the full foundational report.What the report covers:
- Non-linear feedbacks: The tipping points that remove the possibility of human intervention
- The long horizon: Why political timelines fail to account for biological survival
- Strategic requirements: The institutional shifts required to preserve a living future
***DEEP DIVE: CLIMATE COLLAPSE — IF WE ACT NOW
This pathway examines what becomes possible if humanity responds at emergency scale. It does not promise safety or comfort — only the preservation of a living future within planetary limits.What the report covers:
* Emergency Pathways: What immediate, non-negotiable action actually looks like.
* Bounded Damage: How catastrophe can still be limited — not avoided.
* Survivable Futures: The regions, systems, and ecosystems that can still be stabilized.
* The Cost of Survival: Rationing, disruption, and the end of business-as-usual growth.