(Twenty-minute read)

 

Twenty years ago, in 1999, the world was a completely different place than it is today.

Why?

Because we are creating a much more difficult world. A populist World.

A world no matter where you go you can’t get off the grid.

Post a 2009 photo of yourself next to a recent one, to show how much you’ve changed.

Millions have and are criticised for being – among other things – narcissistic, ageist and sometimes a bit sexist.

Each generation brings new social issues to the forefront.

Although 1999 might not feel that far away sometimes when you think about how much the world has changed since then, it feels like it happened a million years ago.

You now get updates from the president of the United States on Twitter.

In 1998, the world global population was sitting at 5.9 billion Fast forward 20 years, and the world’s population is estimated at 7.6 billion.

Twenty years ago, less than half of the world’s population lived in urban areas, today 55% of people live in urban areas.

It’s hard to imagine a world without the internet today, but that wasn’t the case 20 years ago.

The internet has transformed virtually every aspect of our lives, from the way we communicate to how we consume news, shop, navigate, and entertain ourselves.

In 1998 a little company called Google was born then came Facebook.

Today, more than two-thirds of all Americans are on Facebook, the most popular social media platform, and in three years there are estimated to be more than 3 billion social media users overall around the world.

The first cell phone was created in 1973.

Today, you can talk on the phone and use the internet at the same time.

For many people, the “Phone” feature has become one of the least-used features. But in the future, phones could make another drastic change. The World Economic Forum thinks that the first implantable phones will become commercially available by 2024.

It wasn’t until after the Twin Towers fell in New York due to the attacks on 9/11 (in 2001) that terrorism became a much more real threat.

The September 11, 2001 attacks led to resentment toward Arabs and Muslims in the Western world that arguably hasn’t subsided in the years since. The attacks also gave way to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — the latter of which is still ongoing.

On 17 December 2010, a Tunisian street vendor called Mohamed Bouazizi refused to pay a bribe to local officials, so had his fruit and vegetable cart confiscated as a result. Faced with an unforgiving bureaucratic process, he set himself on fire.

This act, less than 10 years ago, was the catalyst for what was later known as the Arab Spring – a wave of protests across the Middle East and North Africa that, in some cases, led to bloody civil wars and a refugee crisis that saw a record number of people forced from their homes.

Yemen, where a three-year civil war has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis today.

Today, mass shootings are happening on a much more regular basis in the US and terror attacks around the world are commonplace.

After the financial crash trust in financial institutions has never been lower.

Self-driving cars are on the thresh hold of reality.

2018 was when the world really woke up to the reality of plastic pollution as well as climate change. Scientists calculate that about 10m tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the oceans every year – and that some of that can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

The biggest change today for all is that Climate change is becoming a grim reality.

The planet’s average surface temperature has risen by about 0.9C since the late 19th century – and about a third of that has happened in the last decade.

Almost 200 governments will meet in Paris in late 2015 to try to agree on a deal to limit global warming to avert floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels blamed on rising emissions of greenhouse gases.

THE CENTRAL CONTRADICTION of climate change is that it is at once the most epic problem that our species has ever faced yet it is largely invisible to the average human.

The implications are shocking but something more subtle will also unfold:

As the climate changes, humans might adapt to some extent, and move, but animals and ecosystems won’t be able to in that short time period.

It’s these indirect impacts on natural and agricultural systems that will cause the collapse of society, countries, our ability to live. Given  the magnitude and rate of these changes, If you don’t have a good idea of what’s coming, it’s hard to mitigate against the threat.

What we are talking about here is average climate, not the weather.

The problem is that climate systems are monumentally complex, and impenetrable datasets do little to change our understanding of climate change. It becomes psychologically distant.

But it is here, and it’s already wreaking havoc.

Though we’re starting to feel the effects of climate change, those effects are not dramatic enough on a day-to-day basis to convince the majority. Unfortunately, scare tactics don’t work to change people’s beliefs and behaviour.

If the problem was that bad, wouldn’t we be putting effort into solving it?

If there’s nothing you can do about it, you disconnect, you disengage.

In fact, the election of Donald Trump — who’s called climate change a “hoax” and said on Twitter that climate change isn’t real because it’s cold out.

So, what can be done to make even more people care about climate change? To motivate people to take action, it’s important to connect climate change to something tangible, like air pollution and health problems.

We will not be returning to what it was.

We live in “MarketWorld” now governed by algorithms.

These entities aren’t doing anything good; There’s still no real alternative to our profit-driven economy.

A better world is just one time-management app, one brilliant entrepreneur.

No matter what, if we emit CO2, we are hurting future generations.

By the end of this century, some parts of the world could face as many as six climate-related crises at the same time

We as humans don’t feel the pain of people who are far away or far into the future.

However, the costs of inaction greatly outweigh the costs of taking action. The dire the situation is for humanity, unprintable here.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.