Hmm,
After some additional long thought on this issue, I've realized that one core issue divides the End of Humanity from A Disaster We Would Be Damaged By, But Otherwise Survive (Relatively) Intact.
Rate of zombie decay/physical breakdown.
If you're in the "GAR Camp" and subscribe to the idea the somehow, inexplicably, dead bodies will remain almost completely intact and very functional for years and years, then it only makes sense for you to believe Humankind would be doomed in the face of a Zombie Apocalypse.
On the other hand, if you're like me and give credence to the many well-understood biological processes which are part and parcel of physical death, you no doubt perceive a host of reasons why zombies simply couldn't remain functional for longer than 6-7 months at the absolute maximum (barring those zombies sheltered from environmental exposure).
The Interval of Functionality of the reanimated dead would, IMHO, be the key factor in determining the scope of the zombies' impact on Humankind and Civilization for (3) main reasons, and a few tributary reasons.
1) Supply Stockpiles. I believe we're all in agreement that any major widespread disaster of sufficient scope will interrupt the functioning of national infrastructure. Of these interrupted services, the lack of new deliveries of food to regular outlets, the disruption or termination of access to clean water sources, and the ongoing lack of medical supplies of even the most basic sort will be the losses most immediately and keenly felt by surviving humans.
I've read in multiple locations/articles/books that the average person/family has no more than two weeks of food on hand at any given moment, with populations in disaster-prone regions (portions of California and S. Oregon due to earthquakes. The Gulf Coast due to hurricanes, and during the winter, New England due to "Nor'easters", sudden blizzards, and potential flooding) for example possessing on average 3-7 days additional food in the form of non-perishables.
So, barring runs on grocery stores/produce stands/ranches etc., most people have no more than 3 weeks of food and an unspecified but no doubt limited amount of clean water available to them. Even in a best-case-scenario where we assume in the opening day/days of the growing crisis/zombie infestation that such a family successfully acquires DOUBLE their current at-home supplies by a frantic run on the grocery store(s), that's still only six weeks of supplies even in disaster accustomed regions.
42 days of food at regular consumption rates, or significantly longer if strictly rationed, but still no more than 2-2 & 1/2 months of rationed food.
Then we have the hardcore survivalists/apocalypse believers of all stripes. Such individuals could very well have extremely large (yet still finite) stockpiles of non-perishables (M.R.Es etc). Someone like this might well have a few YEARS of food, months of stockpiled water, and established systems/practices to augment their supplies should the worst happen. (Doesn't really matter if they were thinking Nuclear War/W.W III when they made their preparations. The supplies are the same.)
So, the VAST MAJORITY of individuals would be totally out of food by Month 3 of the Zombie Apocalypse. Even among those people who've been clever, well-trained/well-prepared, or simply lucky enough to make it that far, right around then will come the last major spurt of human casualties. Either due to encounters with zombies while venturing forth to scrounge for food when hunger drives them beyond the confines of their heretofore "safe" hideout, or in conflicts with other equally desperate human beings competing for the same EXTREMELY LIMITED supplies.
You can see where I'm going with this line of reasoning, but I'll come back to this a bit further on.
2) Societal Instability/Upheaval. This umbrella concept encompasses everything from the breakdown of law and order/emergency services, up to and including desperation-inspired actions by world governments who, seeing the situation(s) in their respective territories go wildly out of their control after efforts to contain and eliminate the threat by conventional means have failed, undertake EXTREME measures to try and regain some of the metaphorical ground they've lost.
Addressing societal breakdown first, MUCH has been said on this particular issue in prior threads. The rise of nomadic marauder-gangs and petty warlords claiming dominion here and there as their manpower and resources allow, to the far more insidious, but ultimately far more lethal epidemic-spawning conditions.
After all, when the Water Treatment Plants go offline, yet sewage continues to be introduced into the system until power is lost, all it will take to cause a host of potential outbreaks of conventional pathogens is enough rainfall or other cause that forces that raw sewage into the streets and contaminating relied-upon water sources that up until now have remained clean. Presto, instant Cholera epidemic. Cryptosporidium, while normally much less dangerous, would have a vastly increased impact on a population already malnourished, under constant stress/carrying significant sleep-deficits and otherwise at least partially Immuno-compromised. Just look at the effects it had on an otherwise healthy, infrastructure-operational Milwaukee when ONE water plant became MILDLY AND BRIEFLY contaminated by Cryptosporidium.
Subsequently, there will be lots of standing/stagnant water all over the place. Everything from pools and decorational ponds/fountains of millions of homes, to simple rainfall accumulation. Without the regular anti-mosquito spraying done in susceptible areas (which would be pretty much everywhere but the damned DESERT under these conditions) the mosquito population would explode to levels seldom seen, let alone experienced by anything but the caribou herds near the arctic circle (whose entire migration cycle is prompted by desperate efforts to escape the CLOUDS of mosquitoes and biting flies). With this explosion of the mosquito population will come any or all of the mosquito-borne pathogens and parasites at epidemic levels.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Then we have the Extreme Measures by the Militaries of the Industrialized Nations at the behest of the aforementioned desperate National Governments they serve. Anyone who has seen the movie Outbreak can easily envision just how destructive/lethal these zombie-extermination efforts could be.
You might be insanely lucky enough to be a member of a well-armed and sizable group who've ultra-secured something like a Sam's Club or Distribution Center ala Dawn-Style and have years of supplies while enjoying a vantage from which you've handily fended off all marauding gangs who've tested your defenses, but you will be just as dead as the people who died seconds after seeing their first zombie if the Air Force drops powerful Thermobaric Bombs on every former major metropolitan area in an effort to destroy huge concentrations of the undead.
3) Basic. Simple. Attrition. No wordiness here. Essentially, the longer the nightmare continues, the more people that will die for any of thousands of reasons. Simple as that. The ultra-prepared can suffer from devastating bad luck, the incredibly well-trained can have a stupid accident, and the Average Joe's luck can run out. If worldwide predators of Man continue to exist in large numbers, and the attendant Anarchy caused by their rise continues unabated, the environment will simply grow so hostile that extinction becomes all but an inevitability.
Now, ***!!!EVERYTHING!!!*** I just described is dependent upon ONE and ONLY ONE factor ultimately.
How long can the vast hordes remain functional? If Trin and the GAR-depicted/Flies-In-The-Face-Of-Biology multiple-years-unimpaired zombie is correct, we're FUCKED for EACH AND EVERY one of the above reasons.
If, on the other hand, the hordes only remain functional for 6-7 months, to be followed by FAR less numerous and sporadic reanimation outbreaks, ALL of the above factors can (and I believe WOULD) be effectively mitigated.
I'll hold off on my final conclusions as yet, as this thread still has a good deal of unlife left in it, but that's why I believe Functional Zombie "Lifespan" is the key deciding factor in Humanity's ultimate fate in the face of such an Apocalypse.
Why I believe all of this would be VASTLY BENEFICIAL to our species can also wait until another post.
Please, continue. 
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Originally Posted by Rancid Carcass
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