Boris tries to rally leaders by warning that climate change could send us back to the Dark Ages
compared to the fall of the Roman Empire tonight warning society could return to the dark ages with terrifying speed. The PM gave an apocalyptic vision of the future as he arrived at the G20 in the Italian capital, where he will desperately try to build momentum ahead of the COP26 summit next week. Mr Johnson delivered an extraordinary warning that generations to come could slump into illiteracy - and even suggested cows could get smaller. He argued that after the collapse of Rome, civilisation even lost the ability to draw properly - saying our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren could face food and water shortages. The comments came amid fears that the Glasgow gathering could end up as a damp squib. Chinas premier Xi Jinping has confirmed that he will not attend the event in person, although he will make a speech by video link. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also shunning the summit along with Brazils Jair Bolsanaro. Speaking to reporters en route to the G20, Mr Johnson said: Humanity as a whole, at half time is about 5-1 down. 'We have got a long way to go but we can do it. 'We have the ability to equalise, to save the position, to come back but it will take a huge amount of effort. In a long description of the tragedy of the Roman Empire, Mr Johnson said things can go backwards as well as forwards. Unless we get this right in tackling climate change we could see our civilisation, our world, also go backwards and we could consign future generations to a life that is far less agreeable than our own. He went on: We could consign our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren to a life in which there are not only huge movements of populations and huge migrations, but also shortages of food, shortages of water, of conflict caused by climate change and there is absolutely no question that this is a reality that we must face. Mr Johnson said after Roman civilisation humanity became far less literate. Look at evidence of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire if you doubt what I say, when Rome fell humanity became far less literate overall, people lost the ability to read and write, they lost the ability to draw properly, they lost the ability to build in the way the Romans did. He said: Things can go backwards and they can go backwards at a really terrifying speed. COP26 begins on Sunday at Glasgow's Scottish Event Campus (SEC) and will welcome 30,000 delegates, 10,000 police and as many as 200,000 protesters for the 13-day conference.