Gaia bites back: Accelerated warming

This scenario portrays a human extinction event in approximately 500 years due to entangled human and planetary positive feedback loops that lead to terminal system failures. The underlying dynamic of the catastrophe for humans is the shift of the Planetary Life System (or Gaia) to a higher temperature steady state, somewhere below the boiling point of water, but above a tolerance zone for human life. The scenario explores how human systems failures could parallel a suite of natural processes that bring about humanity's extinction by accelerating global warming and removing its nominal temperature range and ecological niche. The scenario posits that human development and progress could continue to flourish up to the “bitter end.”