What are some other potential worldwide crises like the pandemic?

Question

Provoked by another thread which mentioned the Carrington Event. [0]The Carrington Event was an extreme solar storm in 1859. It's estimated that a similar event today would cause trillions in damage.It struck me that this was a little like the Covid-19 crisis. A sudden massive worldwide economic disruptive event, rare enough that we don't prepare for it, common enough that we can shake our heads afterwards and say we should have been better prepared.What are some other things like this? Climate change is too predictable, massive asteroid strikes are too rare. A supervolcano?[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

smt88 · Accepted Answer

War, obviously. Volcanic eruptions are another.
> Climate change is too predictable
This isn't true.
Climate change can increase the frequency of once-rare, massive natural disasters, like hurricanes, fires, and droughts. It also contributes to the spread of certain diseases, such as mosquito-born diseases.
If you or anyone you know can predict the effects of climate change, you can make millions in the insurance or real estate industries.

ksaj · Answer

I don't agree that climate change is too predictable. By putting everything under a single umbrella like that, one misses out on specific issues, such as the arctic ozone layer hole, the Pacific Gulch, reef bleaching, de-oxygenation and excessive warming of ocean waters, and so on.These haven't yet become worldwide economic disruptive events, but they certainly are worthy triggers to pay specific attention to them.