Reply #57: That seems unlikely, unless you're nearby.

[sofa king]

Otherwise, the cycle of death is far more complex, but perhaps just as inevitable. The simpler parts are: ash and sulfuric acid in the atmosphere drops global temperatures and kills harvests (3-12 months), which in turn spikes energy use, which in turn sparks wars of migration and resource control (the Bush-types would be advocating an invasion and extermination campaign in Mexico and Central America, while the Canadians would be rolling over the border as fast as they can come). The four horsemen would arrive just in time to prevent new crop planting and to spread disease among an unusually compressed human population (as they all are forced to fight their way to the tropics).

Dust in the air would prevent air travel and air combat, which would even the odds of the rest of the world against Europe and North America. Since most of the major islands of the world are no longer self-sustaining, each one would become its own overpopulated death-trap. So too would certain valleys and other easily contained geographic areas, and of course anything far enough from the ocean that it would freeze solid from months or years of plunging temperatures.

If the political disruption is powerful enough to prevent the worldwide distribution of oil, then five billion people have about six miserable weeks to six horrifying months to live. If most of those five billion manage to survive rather than die, their impact on the tropics would be instant and severe: deforestation and habitat loss would run rampant, which in turn would increase the time needed for the global climate to stabilize, which would continue the cycle of war, economic and agrarian disruption, and death. This might be a good time to start learning Portuguese, because Brazil is the only nation on earth geographically and infrastructurally equipped to survive--not that they won't screw it all up for themselves by burning off their forests.

Anyway, yeah. So everyone is going to die horribly with enough time to watch it all go straight to Hell in slow motion, sort of like Americans got to watch the years 2001-2009. Have a nice day. I'm going to go have some ice cream.