What's happening on earth right now?

Extreme population reduction appears to be happening.

What is causing this?

Global Climate changes causing food to double or triple in price because of these changes where less can be successfully grown worldwide.

When people cannot afford food (like now worldwide) they either starve or they start growing their own food more.

When I returned from Hawaii where I lived in Hana and Paia on Maui my wife and I rented an old house on an acre of land that had black cherry trees (100 years old) and the same with black walnut trees and apple trees and pear trees and wild blackberry bushes too. The only problem was that the back side of our property we rented (1 acre) was the train tracks of the main train line from San Diego to Seattle so the house shook whenever a freight train went by (which was several times a day).

However, we started an organic Garden because we were having some financial difficulties then around 1990 and so we fed ourselves a lot just from the fruit and vegetables we grew on our land then in Mt. Shasta city at 3500 feet elevation near the Oregon Border with California.

So, if you don't want to starve you could buy or rent land to grow food on during these difficult times worldwide. As long as you have a good and relatively inexpensive water source this can work.

A friend of mine did this since 1972 but he recently passed away in the Mt. Shasta area at age 81.

However, another couple we know also has 2 1/2 acres and 75% of what they eat they now grow on their land year around. So, they have a greenhouse that they keep things going and growing even in the winter when it's snowing outside. So, My friend who has owned this land since he got his master's degree in 1976 from UCLA has been growing his own food ever since then or basically almost 50 years at this point. 

So, don't starve just grow your own food as much as possible. If you have good water that isn't too expensive it is pretty easy to grow your own organic foods year around. (especially if you live in California where often there are 4 growing seasons.