1. Climate change can be neither stopped nor slowed down. In fact, it will gather momentum in the years to come. The threat may last a few centuries at least. The only way forward is disaster management on the community level. Help from the outside is always welcome, but it cannot be counted upon. Each community needs to fend for itself to the best of its ability.

2. Depending on its size, location, and resources, every community will face different threats. However, all communities will need to engage in disaster management, which will become ever more challenging as climate change becomes increasingly threatening. The principles of disaster management will be the same for all communities around the globe.

3. Disaster management needs to follow a regular cycle, which includes four distinct phases: preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation. This cycle will be repeated indefinitely. The community facing disasters will continually learn and adjust to changing conditions it faces. Disasters to fend against include both natural and human ones induced by climate change.

4. Each community will need to elect a person responsible for the coordination of the entire disaster management effort, who will appoint his or her team. Each phase of the disaster management cycle will require undivided attention of a member of the team. The coordinator and his or her team need to have full authority to conduct all activities required in the disaster management cycle.

5. Every member of a community will need to take part in the disaster management cycle. Toward this end, they will need regular training. Each member of the community will contribute to disaster management according to his or her ability. Also, each community member will be rewarded according to his or her needs.

6. In the long run, the only way for individuals or families to survive the ravages of climate change will be to join a community capable of sustained disaster management. Fending for themselves without communal support will be reserved for a very small number of exceptional individuals or families, but only over a part of their life cycle. Both in youth and old age, they will need support of others.

7. Communities successful at disaster management will attract stranded individuals or families in need of communal support. Depending on their demeanor and skills, some of them will become welcome members of a community. They will need to be integrated into the disaster management effort as quickly as practicable.

8. Communities that are most successful at disaster management will also attract robbers and marauders in small or large groups. They will therefore need to defend themselves against unwanted intruders. Defense is an important part of the disaster management effort. Community members capable of taking part in defense activities will need to be trained and provided with all the resources required.

9. Communities successful at disaster management may grow in size to the point where they will need to split up so that a portion of the community will look for another suitable location to form a separate community. For this purpose, they will require appropriate resources. Also, less successful communities may need to join more successful ones so as to better cope with ravages of climate change.

10. Each community needs to maintain good relations with communities in its proximity, and especially those that are most successful at disaster management, so as to share knowledge and resources needed for the effort. These good relations will be useful in collective preparations for upcoming disasters. Also, they may be essential in collective defense against large groups of marauders.

To James Lovelock