The Collapse of Western Civilization

The Period of the Penumbra spans 1988-2093. A penumbra is a shadowed area, and the term was chosen as being representative of the anti-intellectualism present during that time. The imagery of a shadow is intended to reflect the first Dark Ages of Europe. The historian describes:

The shadow of anti-intellectualism that fell over the once-Enlightened techno-scientific nations of the Western world during the second half of the twentieth century, preventing them from acting on the scientific knowledge available at the time and condemning their successors to the inundation and desertification of the late twenty-first and twenty-second centuries (59).

The Period of the Penumbra, which is the primary timeframe discussed by the historian, is representative of real-world anti-intellectualism. The authors are satirically criticizing modern climate denial and science skepticism. This criticism reflects The Promotion of Interdisciplinary and Holistic Science. The discussion implies that real-world science is limiting itself by relying on reductionism and specialization, and these limitations may be negatively influencing public opinion. Rather than blaming the public for not listening to scientists, the authors criticize scientific practices, such as the reliance on statistical significance and the avoidance of Type I errors.

The Period of the Penumbra acts as both a warning and a solution: It demonstrates why science literacy is so important, and it suggests scientific practices must change in order to improve the relationship between the science community and the public. If this happens, then humans may yet be able to mitigate climate change.

The Great Collapse and Mass Migration occurred during the last 20 years of the Period of the Penumbra, 2073-2093. Officially, the Great Collapse refers to the degradation of the Earth’s cryosphere, namely the deterioration of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets. However, the historian states that many have come to include the term to describe the accompanying societal collapse—“scholars now use the term more broadly to include the interconnected social, economic, political, and demographic collapse that ensued” (30). The Great Collapse is a symbol of the relationship between the environment and humanity. It reflects the themes of Logical Fallacies of Neoliberalism and the Free Market and The Potential Consequences of Unchecked Climate Change by suggesting that climate change will not only disrupt the environment, but will also cause social instability.

Social instability is further symbolized through the Mass Migration, which occurred when eustatic refugees—refugees seeking safe harbor from rising seas—were forced to flee their homes after the Great Collapse. The historian writes:

Although records for this period are incomplete, it is likely that during the Mass Migration 1.5 billion people were displaced around the globe, either directly from the impacts of sea level rise or indirectly from other impacts of climate change, including the secondary dislocation of inland peoples whose towns and villages were overrun by eustatic refugees (30).

The Mass Migration also provides commentary on real-world immigration, which is a popular and controversial socio-political topic. The authors suggest that immigration will intensify if climate change is not mitigated, and this warning serves as an additional motivator for humanity to take climate action.