The world of 2045 is not to dissimilar to a world 50 years’ prior- No longer is there one dominating global power, but we are now in a multi-polar world. China, India, Brazil, Russia and the USA now control most of the worlds resources, GDP, trade and population (Osborne 2015)
(Source 1: safoc.org) Global Warming
More than ever we are facing the crisis of a shortage of resources and an ever growing population. The population has nearly grown to 10 billion and with the emergence of more than one superpowers, we’ve exploited a vast amount of our oil, and so there are many initiatives still in place to find some other source of energy. (Rosling 2010) Global warming is the biggest threat to Earth and humanity. Predictions were correct from the IPCC (2016) that today in 2045 the temperature has rose by 2°c. Society still hasn’t learned that we must give up luxuries in order to sustain life. Solar, wind and wave power doesn’t forfill our ever expanding needs. This threat to the world however, has given enlightenment for countries of the world to come and work together harmoniously, now more than ever we are seeing the mutual agreement between superpowers, all fighting a just cause. Although there is peace, natural hazards and disasters are becoming a much more occurring occasion; there may be peace amongst humanity but the war between man and the earth is ever growing. Bangladesh has vanished, and so has Hawaii. The horn of Africa is a deserted graveyard and the rainforests such as the amazon have shrunk by 85%. (IPCC 2016) We are calling for Innovation and technology to lead the way in Man kinds survival, as Boserup once said ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ (Boserup 1965, p13) and successful sustainable cities such as Masdar are giving us all hope.
One positive thing to come out of the past 30 years is Gender equality. Women emancipation became on of the global driving forces for development, alongside universal education. India and the continent of Africa have been the main subjects for this. Women have a bigger role to play in the household and community, and this has been done through greater educational opportunities and access to jobs. Women are natural diplomats, the soft speakers and negotiators. Women in job roles give voice enforcing change, making a positive contribution for the future in things such as gaining inheritance laws, allowing access to finance and credit, and banning child brides, reinforcing security influencing development. We are seen as equals to men, and men are seen as equals to us!
(Source: women equality) Gender scales
Agendas such as the Sustainable development goals (UN 2015) succeeded in bringing Gender equality but very much failed to bring environmental sustainability in turn threatening lives. Environmental instability has given rise to global social development, reduced inequalities and to a certain extent world-wide coexistence. Its safe to say that the large global Boserup style effort to start sustainably living and harnessing clean power is one that will be greatly anticipated in coming years.
Bibliography
Boserup, Esther, (1965) The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure, Chicago, Aldine, pg 13.
Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), (2007) IPCC fourth assessment report: Climate change 2007, https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/spmsspm-projections-of.html [8/12/15].
Masdar: A mubadala company, (2016) http://masdar.ae [12/12/15]
Osbourne, Samuel, (2015) What the world will look like in 2050, in eight maps and charts, the independent, http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/what-the-world-will-be-like-in-2050-in-eight-maps-and-charts–gyvUpK2RJZ [7/12/15].
Rosling, Hans, (2010), Hans Rosling Global population growth box by box, Ted talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTznEIZRkLg [8/12/15].
United Nations (UN), (2015), https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 [12/12/15]
Images
Source 1: Safoc.org
Source 2: women equality
gracesimkins 