Add this to your worry list - Earth Mag Poles show signs of shifting

[packman]

Historically, no big deal. Last time it happened was 478,000 years and it gave it a try 40,000 ago and it was a big "so what". Today, with mankind cluttering up the earth with cities, technology, satellites, and all types of gizmos - it could be a HUGE deal. In addition....

Add cosmic and ultraviolet radiation to this mix, and the consequences for life on Earth could be ruinous.

the perils are not just biological. The vast cyber-electric cocoon that has become the central processing system of modern civilization is in grave danger. Solar energetic particles can rip through the sensitive miniature electronics of the growing number of satellites circling the Earth, badly damaging them. The satellite timing systems that govern electric grids would be likely to fail. The grid’s transformers could be torched en masse. Because grids are so tightly coupled with each other, failure would race across the globe, causing a domino run of blackouts that could last for decades

More:

https://undark.org/article/books-alanna-mitchell-spinning-magnet/

[MineralMan]

1. This has been talked about for quite some time.

The reality is that it's a fairly little-known field of study, and there is much disagreement about whether this will happen soon or at some other unknown time. We just don't have the experience to know. The information at the link is interesting, but even the author says that nobody really knows. So, something might happen or it might not. If it does happen, nobody is really all that sure what effect that would have on systems, because it hasn't happened before when those systems existed.

It's an unknown thing, really, and will remain unknown until it eventually does happen. Then, we'll find out. The problem is that we don't know the potential effects, and have no real means to do anything to prevent them. And, since we don't know when, or if this will happen, it's highly unlikely that we'll do much of anything about it in advance.

Life's a game of chance, when it comes to global phenomena. We live. We take our chances. Many major things could happen. Will they? We can't predict. We don't know enough. So we keep studying.

[VMA131Marine]

2. I don't really see the problem

The magnetic field keeps out charged particles, mostly high energy electrons, protons, and alpha particles from the Sun. These ultimately get directed along the Earth's magnetic field lines to cause the auroras at the poles. The magnetic field does not stop UV and it most certainly does not stop high energy X-rays and Gamma rays from outside the Solar System, which have the potential to cause the most damage. The high energy particles will be stopped by collision with molecules in the atmosphere before they reach the ground.
However, the lack of a magnetic field will temporarily increase the rate of erosion of the atmosphere by the Solar wind until the field gets reestablished. It's the lack of a magnetic field that has caused Mars to lose most of it's atmosphere.

[hunter]

3. It would be the coolest thing ever to witness something like that!

Like icing on the cake, since I'm already here to witness a rare mass extinction event firsthand.

Sorry about all that death and stuff... but bad shit always happens when a people ignore science, or worse, claim it's the devil.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. Bad shit happens when people ignore science?

Is there evidence that human activity, or lack thereof, contributes to the fluctuation in the earth's magnetic field?

If extinction is going to happen, then our ignorance or our intelligence will make little difference.

I may need to buy a "end of the world as we know it" bottle of scotch.

[hunter]

6. We could quit fossil fuels, we could quit growing our population, we have the technologies...

... but we won't.

Instead we will experience exponential growth and collapse, as many innovative species have experienced in the deep history of this planet.

We're not the first, we won't be the last.

[raven mad]

4. LOL! That means I might get WARM weather??

Our polar bears won't like it, but heck.................