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A NASA thought experiment called, Defending Human Civilisation From Supervolcanic Eruptions, stated that a supervolcano eruption was more likely to happen in the future than an asteroid hitting the earth, according to the Daily Star. It said: “Supervolcanic eruptions occur more frequently than a large asteroid or comet impacts that would have a similarly catastrophic effect to human civilization.” Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers found that collisions from asteroids which are more than 2km in diameter occurred “half as often as supervolcanic eruptions”.
[...]Yellowstone Caldera[*] is classed as a supervolcano which erupted 60,000 years ago and again 60,000 years before that.
Although there is no guarantee, if the volcano follows the same pattern then it is now due for another eruption.
Researchers have found that if a supervolcano like Yellowstone did erupt, then a “volcanic winter” would ensue which could surpass the “amount of stored food worldwide”.
People living on another continent would not be spared from the aftermath of a supervolcanic eruption.
[*] Wikipedia entry on the Yellowstone Caldera (aka Supervolcano).
The referenced NASA document — Defending Human Civilization From Supervolcanic Eruptions (pdf) — is less sensational; here is the abstract from the paper:
Large volcanic eruptions greater or equal to a magnitude 8 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (i.e., supervolcanic eruptions) eject >10 15 kg of ash and sulfate aerosols, sufficient to blanket sizeable fractions of continents and create a regional or global "volcanic winter." Such events could seriously reduce worldwide agricultural production for multiple years, causing mass famine. Supervolcanic eruptions occur more frequently than large asteroid or comet impacts that would have a similarly catastrophic effect to human civilization, especially now that many asteroid orbits have been mapped. We assess whether future supervolcanic eruptions could be dampened, delayed, or prevented by engineering solutions.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday April 10 2019, @03:10PM
We'll have no shortage of material - every resource ever mined is now neatly deposited in comparatively ultra-pure form in our cities, scrap yards, and landfills. Every resource except for one: energy.
There's plenty of coal left, but it mostly requires a technological civilization to find and extract. If civilization completely collapses, it's unlikely it will be able to rise again - at least not in anything like its current pace and form. Though, now that I think about it, plastic might serve the same purpose.
On the other hand, one form of modern technology *is* likely to leave many enduring gifts that survive the collapse of civilization: biotechnology. At the very least, crops with vastly improved yields and tolerance to flooding and drought, and quite possibly the ability to fix their own nitrogen from the air, allowing them to thrive in much poorer soils (those all being things we've already made great progress on). Which should free a vastly larger percentage of the population from farming and allow science, industry, and the arts to thrive far more readily than last time. And there's no telling what other incredibly useful organisms we may develop before the fall. Especially if it hits us slowly enough that we have some time to prepare.
Of course, a self-sustaining off-world colony isolated from whatever caused the collapse on Earth would help immensely in preserving knowledge and jump-starting a technological civilization again on Earth once things have settled down. No denying that.