It seems pretty clear that we are in for a massive downshift. That, in itself, is unpalatable for most citizens. We might be able to soften the blow if we work hard to improve public awareness that business as usual is finished.

If even that limited objective fails, then we likely face a very grim future. As humans increasingly flout planetary boundaries , a general economic deterioration is inevitable. We've used up the cheapest and most accessible energy and mineral resources; also we're now saddled with the escalating costs of repeated infrastructure repair and insurance premium hikes as adverse weather events multiply. That will boost inflation as well as causing supply-chain issues and a growing inability by nations to pay for their imports.

These interlinked crises are complex and very hard to tackle. We've all grown to expect growth and prosperity; now comes the reckoning. Politics being what it is, inevitably the government of the day will get the blame.

The hunt for simplistic solutions (or scapegoats) could so easily embolden a rising tide of belligerent protest – the perfect recruiting ground for the demagogue, the autocratic strong-man who promises to ‘put things right’.

The parallels with the rise of Hitler, Franco and Mussolini are surely obvious.

Complacency could so easily result in rising inequality, the sly whittling away of press freedom and citizens’ rights, and ultimately autocracy. Hence Trump, Putin, Netenyahu, Lukashenko, Erdogan, al Sisi, Xi, Duterte, Bolsonaro, Orban, the vile Myanmar junta, and their lookalikes and wannabes across the globe.

The old aphorism “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” has never sounded more relevant or urgent.