North Korea has dismissed the
1953 armistice line; tensions continue in the Middle-East; the Liberal
Democrats are pushing for more ‘victories’ after the Eastleigh by-election;
yet none of these factors – despite how scary a government under the leadership
of Nick Clegg sounds – are truly the greatest threat that the world faces.
Forget nuclear war or global terrorism, there is a greater and more universal
threat that we continue to ignore.
We are collectively the
greatest threat to humanity. This is going to sound like a bit of a global
warming rant, but I assure you, we all need to shift our attitudes towards the
environment, just as I am sure that we would have wished those that came before
us would have done if they knew how the world was turning out. I’ve just sat in
my final Political Theory lecture of the year – the discussion Green Political
Theory and not much politics was discussed. Instead we all left with a rather
bleak look on our faces as to what could and very well may happen before the
turn of the century – or sooner.
Desertification, deforestation,
water shortages, increasing temperatures, pollution, unstable population growth
and species extinction are all very real factors that must be considered by
both the individual and by the wider global community. I say community because we
are all in this together. Over one-hundred nations are currently affected by desertification
(those sneaky deserts think we’re not noticing them...). This has previously
been thought as an African-Asian issue, but it’s happening in Spain and in
Italy. It is thought that within the next forty to sixty years, the equator
will be uninhabitable, whilst European summer temperatures reach an average of
fifty-degrees Celsius (See Australia last summer). By the end of the twenty-first
century it is believed that approximately ninety-five percent of all species
will be extinct. Currently, twenty-nine countries face water-shortages,
although by the year 2025 it is believed that we will all require a further
twenty-percent more water than we already use.
Of course, all of this is a
prediction. Some would say that we should use what we have whilst we can and
enjoy ourselves. Others would suggest that there are other more pressing issues
to tackle such as growth and defence. I for one can’t sit comfortably knowing
that the problems faced now can and will probably get worse. Not just for some,
but for the majority. The rich and the poor. The European. The North, Central
and South American. The Asian. The African. The Australasian.
This isn’t a story that will just
go away if we sweep it under the rug; it all starts with a shift. A shift in
perspective away from ‘everlasting’ progress to the idea of the ‘steady-state’.
A shift away from decadence and nihilism towards an attainable and sustainable present
and future. A shift from blame-placing to collectively taking on the
challenge. This is not a short-term problem, and it requires more than a
short-term solution. It starts now, it starts with the individual, and the
finished picture is ...
