"The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking."
​Dr Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784

"Live all you can: it's a mistake not to. It doesn't matter what you do in particular, so long as you have had your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?"
Henry James, 1843-1916

"As life is action and passion it is required of man that he should share the action and passion of his time, at peril of being judged not to have lived."
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894

"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. The fatal thing is rejection. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life."
Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962

"If you are not getting as much from life as you want to, then examine the state of your enthusiasm."
Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993

​I've come to the conclusion that the human race cannot avoid a disaster of a certain magnitude. Every civilisation has after a time either self-destructed or been destroyed by a natural event; that will happen to ours too, but how and when? Will it be climate change? It's possibly the commonest cause of civilisation death, so why would ours be immune?

I imagine many think we are different due to advances in technology and knowledge. But societal extinction can occur despite the recognition of impending disaster, even if the exact causes were unknown or disputed.

Is it because the human race is hard-wired to be materially and intellectually selfish and therefore ineffective in the face of catastrophe? And why are so many compelled to stare in awe at a retreating shoreline before a tidal wave hits, rather than leave everything behind and run like hell?

If we have caused climate change, reducing the intensity of a disaster requires each person to make independent sacrifices and leaders to lead by example, with honesty and altruistically.
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I see little evidence of this, so it seems inevitable that the natural world will be radically different sooner than we would believe.

Are you one of those under the spell of a retreating shoreline? What are you doing now to prepare and protect your business and family?