The Real Threat

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 ...