 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/strangeattractor/2655388410/" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1071" title="2655388410_5973bcfaa3" src="http://strangeattractor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/2655388410_5973bcfaa3.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="263" /></a>

<em>"No civilisation lasts for ever. Most go for between 200 and 600 years." The Maya, Romans and Angkor of Cambodia lasted 600.</em>

<em>And us? "Western civilisation began with the Renaissance, so we're hitting 600 years," says Michael Coe. "The difference is we have a choice whether to let things get worse or fix them. That's what science is about. But it takes will on the part of those who govern and those who are being governed." Coe, one of the world's leading experts on civilisation collapse, pauses. "To tell you the truth, I don't know if we have that."</em>

A sensible piece about the possibilities of total societal collapse, over at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/28/climatechange-population" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>