Y 2 K
Remember? The world was gonna end. Fsssssssssssssssssss...
In 2005 we were told that PeakOil was supposed to happen before 2010. Guess what?!
Global Warming! Global Warming!
Yes, the system goes through crises, but then things change, wrong get righted and life goes on. No, the world is probably not gonna end. And if does, the fact that I won't hear you whining anymore will almost make up for it.
We did in the past and we will do again in the future. The probability for doom, while not zero, is extremely low, due to our flexibility.
As for "catastrophic damage": yes they are possible (even an asteroid hitting earth. But what are THE ODDS of us not figuring out a solution in time? Even lower than those of the event occurring in the first place, and thus practically negligible.
What? If the right size celestial body were heading for the earth there wouldn't be much we could do about it. There are a great deal of things that can happen that we would be utterly powerless to stop.
Given that, there is no point worrying about such things. If such a thing ever does happen, I'll probably be gone by then anyway.