"If" there was a pole shift then plans could fly out the window, from what I've read the only people who would survive it would be in the space station....real biblical stuff.
We're talking sudden temperature changes, earthquakes off the richter scale, multiple volcanic eruptions, you get the idea I suppose. Hapgoods theory did have Einsteins backing and it's certainly viable but it is just a theory at this stage.
(there was purported to be proof of his theory in frozen mammoths etc, however if you examine the evidence carefully you'll find it's somewhat lacking..even if the evidence was kosha there's other circumstances that could have had a similar effect- eg meteor impact, freak weather perhaps)
If there is going to be a storm brewing soon I'm betting it's going to be man-made events, if only because that's something you can prepare for
Each to their own though, this is merely what my gut instinct/training/knowledge tells me. I could well be wrong, wouldn't be the first time