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Dohboi,

No doubt we COULD do many, many things.

What is the likely trajectory?

Newf, need you ask...

To paraphrase John Lennon: You may say that I'm a doomer/ But I'm not the only one...

A good summation of the Anthropocene:

“A Strong Case for the Anthropocene: no other species has ever consumed so much of earth’s resources so quickly”
http://energyskeptic.com/2020/a-strong- ... o-quickly/

“Humans are producing and consuming resources at a geologically unprecedented rate – a rate that needs to be maintained to continue the high level and complexity of the current [fossil-fuel based] civilization. This high consumption has formed a ‘striking new pattern’ in the planet’s global energy flow. Humans now consume between 25 and 38% of net primary production of the planet. Human modification and appropriation of NPP, and the production of energy over and above NPP, has been developing over thousands of years, but accelerated markedly from the mid-20th century onward (Figure 1) Professor Zalasiewicz at the University of Lecister said the last times such huge effects were seen happened 2.5 billion years ago when photosynthesis appeared, and again half a billion years ago when the food web grew more complex. Although the 5 major extinction events were also huge, “ even measured against these events, human-driven changes to production and consumption are distinctly new.”

"Cassandra's Legacy: Do we still have a chance? The challenge of emergency measures for the survival of humankind"
https://cassandralegacy.blogspot.com/20 ... ge-of.html

"Instead, if you go to the basic physics of the issue, you'll discover that models are certainly wrong as predictive tools simply because they can't include the non-linear forces that push the system to change its state. But physics tells you that the problem is way worse than models can calculate. That's what Dr. Tao does.

Once we do our due diligence, the results are -- well -- let's say a bit uncomfortable. There are many uncertainties, but the robust result is that we are heading for disaster. We can't even rule out the total extinction of the biosphere. But even the consequences of a warming over 3-4 °C would be more than sufficient for the extinction of our civilization, if not of humans as a species."

I guess nothing can be completely ruled out.

But the biosphere extends deep into the earth, so I doubt every last bacteria sequestered in cracks in the bedrock will go extinct. But yeah, things don't look to good for most complex life forms, especially those that evolved in the last few tens of millions of years when ice on the poles was the norm.

I like the name Dr. Tao, though. Sounds like a James Bond film with an Eastern mystic as the bad guy!

Scientists’ warning to humanity on insect extinctions
http://energyskeptic.com/2020/scientist ... tinctions/

“We are pushing many ecosystems beyond recovery, resulting in insect extinctions. Causes are habitat loss, pollution, invasives, climate change, and over exploitation. We lose biomass, diversity, unique histories, functions, and interaction networks. Insect declines lead to loss of essential, irreplaceable services to humanity. Action to save insect species is urgent, for both ecosystems and human survival. Abstract Here we build on the manifesto ‘World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, issued by the Alliance of World Scientists. As a group of conservation biologists deeply concerned about the decline of insect populations, we here review what we know about the drivers of insect extinctions, their consequences, and how extinctions can negatively impact humanity. We are causing insect extinctions by driving habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation, use of polluting and harmful substances, the spread of invasive species, global climate change, direct over-exploitation, and co-extinction of species dependent on other species. With insect extinctions, we lose much more than species. We lose abundance and biomass of insects, diversity across space and time with consequent homogenization, large parts of the tree of life, unique ecological functions and traits, and fundamental parts of extensive networks of biotic interactions. Such losses lead to the decline of key ecosystem services on which humanity depends. From pollination and decomposition, to being resources for new medicines, habitat quality indication and many others, insects provide essential and irreplaceable services.”

“Climate change and food demand could shrink species' habitats by almost a quarter by 2100”
https://phys.org/news/2020-11-climate-f ... itats.html

“Mammals, birds and amphibians worldwide have lost on average 18% of their natural habitat range as a result of changes in land use and climate change, a new study has found. In a worst-case scenario this loss could increase to 23% over the next 80 years.”