Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?

Authors are Paul and Anne Ehrlich, authors of the famous 1968 book "The Population Bomb" [1].

From early editions of that book: "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate."

Fortunately they were wrong, at least in their timing.

From their new article: "Environmental problems have contributed to numerous collapses of civilizations in the past. Now, for the first time, a global collapse appears likely. Overpopulation, overconsumption by the rich and poor choices of technologies are major drivers; dramatic cultural change provides the main hope of averting calamity."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb

Ah yes, Erlichs, still after all these years trying to be right via the stopped-clock technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon–Ehrlich_wager

For every age we will surely have a bogeyman in our impact, whether it's urban streets covered in manure, excessive smog, food shortages, acid rain, the depletion of the ozone layer, or climate change.

The point in reading a text like this shouldn't be to be scared, but to assert yourself towards whatever the empirical evidence shows will improve matters. After all, there's no trick that will let you escape this fate, whatever it is.

Unfortunately, the world is never going to end; it's just going to keep dragging on and on.