The best we can do is to craft inventories of the possible, drawing on the best available knowledge and theory in all the relevant disciplines. And all disciplines are, to a greater or lesser degree, relevant. Others are threats to our collective well-being. First, be on the lookout for the time when global oil production peaks. Ever since the early 20th century, the human race has become insanely dependent on oil.
Oil is the cheapest, most convenient, most transportable, most versatile energy source in the world.
Without abundant cheap energy, civilization as we know it would cease to exist. But the amount of oil in the earth is finite. At current rates of usage, oil production is likely to peak in the year 2025. Thereafter oil will become increasingly scarce and expensive. The closer we come to the end of our cheap oil supply, the closer we will come to the mother of all economic depressions, unless we manage to find adequate cost-effective substitutes in plenty of time.