We just missed destroying all human life by the end of the 20th century through UV radiation, and without global co-operation to quit dumping chloro-flouro-carbons into the atmosphere, we would have missed the window on that one.  (Actually we have not attained safety:  We are still emitting dangerous amounts of related ozone-depleters that might yet do us in--and there is no regulation in sight.)

But the highest level is no longer effective--it is hopelessly corrupt and getting worse.  This is no surprise:  Effective action would require re-thinking our deepest assumptions about civilization--about what it is and what it does.  But this rethinking we are unwilling to do.  Which in turn is reflected in our highest levels of political and economic organization becoming even MORE delusional and corrupt.  This is the standard pattern of a civilization in the process of failure and collapse, and while we may not know WHY this is what we are choosing, we can see the pattern and see that it IS what we are choosing.  

And if a few of us would choose otherwise--well, that is part of the pattern, too.  

Often--even usually--when collapse happens there are survivors, and that is where--assuming we don't attain the Easter Island or the planet Venus scenerios--things get interesting.  The survivors will certainly be organized locally, doing things that work.  Realizing that they will be local, and must work, we can guess what those things are.  Guessing what they are, we can begin to think locally in advance of the fact.  

Well, that is my perspective from the US.  If Europe can stave off privatization and the Anglo-American model, you have a chance at a slow collapse that is almost a soft landing.  But the trends are wrong:  You aren't staving them off, and if you don't, you will certainly follow the US to the bottom.  

Which brings me back to it:  The best way to have survivors is to maintain the biosphere, and the best way to maintain the biosphere is to stop doing what we are doing, but we will not stop before collapse itself stops us.  Planning ahead means organizing locally now.  Beyond that it is luck.  

The Fates are kind.