End of the world and Copenhagen

                         I remember a series of mildly irritating endless discussions about the end of world by one of my cynical buddies and his wish to "see the end of everything while having popcorn!!". I initially chose to ignore as most of the futuristic pictures painted were extremely negative and pessimistic.

Gradually it did turn out to be one of my topics of interest as it encompasised everything from my career, lifestyle, food, politics, money, climate, media etc. There is a fear in some sections on the possibility of the world's end in 2012 - I believe they are optimistic!

As for the world reaching a sudden death due to climate change or collision of the so called planet Nubiru, its very unlikely, as Man has developed a capacity to withstand environmental elements to a great extent over the last millenium and the presence of incoming cosmic object would have been detected by astronomers by now.



Unfortunately it seems like we are going to have a slow and painful death. Population has multiplied over 3 times in the past few decades and is forecasted to be around 15 million within the next two decades. Medical science has advanced so much that everyone seems to have someone in their family who is past 80. The previously truthful news media has turned into a medium for false propoganda by political parties. The reign of internet has ussured in an avalanche of false news, rumors and gossips. Even people we meet on a day to day basis have an extreme difficulty in being honest with their statements. We always find some section of the media trying to divert viewers from world issues by substituing them with reality drama. The only thing predictable is the constant inflation rates. The gap between the rich and the poor is definitely widening in almost all countries, while cost of living (health, education, food) constantly on the rise. The cost of cultivating food crops more than tripled over the last decade with selling price not increasing proportionally; thus plunging large sections of farmers under the poverty line. Climate wise the last decade has been the hottest since the last 160 years. Man and to an extent climate change has eliminated 100's of species of flora and fauna over the last 150 years, including 6 species of animals in the last 6 years.

All these point to a population explosion, with widespread poverty, food shortage and very few parts of the world that are inhabitable.


Now this scenario has been foreseen by a number of nations decades back and infact the world has moved in the right path with globalization and more lax trade measures between the east and west. Climate Change has also been a great topic of concern among all "developed" countries, with the "Developing and underdeveloped" countries more concerned about maintaining their economy. Tighter "pro climate" rules would impact a number of lifelines in these countries - multiple industries will have to cut costs to implement these measures which might lead to laying off millions of people.

This realization has led countries to be very relaxed and easy going on most of the climate change summits. And virtually very little has been done towards climate change (of course you can point a number of  minor egs like smog checks for vehicles etc). Every agenda with a deadline has never been followed by most nations with China showing least inclination among developed nations. This primarily has been due to the lack of legally binding task lists and lack of penalities for missing the deadlines. India has come up with a statement that they would reduce their carbon emission by 20% in 2020. US ( who by the way is responsible for 50% of the world's carbon emissions) is clearly fighting their position within their own country. The US chamber of commerce (reponsible for over 3 million businesses) has clearly questioned the science behind climate change and alsong with the republican party claimed that it is a hoax. They have also opposed setting a constant world wide price for carbon though the rest of the world agrees on it.

Despite this I believe it is still great to have skeptics take part in the climate summit as it will prevent the sanctions from too inflexible.

With lack of technology on "cost effectively" converting the Carbon gas emissions; a complex situation has risen with a clear lack of incentive for developing countries to implement the different chapters being addressed at the climate change meeting. With the world economy still recovering , it will difficult for the developed countries to provide aid as well. 
Despite this I believe it is very important during the current climate summit at Copenhagen, that we need legally binding agenda for the countries to follow and missing deadlines should yield penalties; of course with deadlines being considerate considering the current world economy.

May be these steps would help us and our children live in slightly better conditions in the future.

-thoughts from a small optimist.