Destroyed Environment and Massively Warm Climate

Misstep and nonstops of the 21st century that have led to the current year, 2118’s destroyed environment and massively warm climate
Introduction
Our planet is being destroyed, at present, by drought, heat, fires and dust and a nearly irreversibly damaged and sick environment, which is impacting the lives of millions with its new dimension of climate change and associated health effects. The climate change impacts felt in the present day are in line with twenty-first century estimates which suggested a possibly devastating, and excessively high, risk to mankind’s health[footnoteRef:1]. According to the estimates, some of global warming’s chief threats to humanity were food insecurity, displacement, malnutrition, and other unanticipated calamities which couldn’t be experimentally ascertained on account of the climate and environment’s long-term and complicated nature. The dire nature of the estimates raises the question of why they weren’t taken seriously by twenty-first century stakeholders and what held them back from taking preventive and corrective action to combat global warming. In this paper, the massive-scale warming’s social and environmental consequences will be addressed, in addition to twenty-first-century non-steps and missteps and the cultural, environmental, and political factors that combined to contribute to this non-action which led to the present excessive climatic and environmental damage. [1: David Roberts, “There’s a huge gap…” Vox, (November 6, 2017)]
Breathable air has been increasing in scarcity since the twenty-first century, with increased trapping of CO2 (carbon dioxide) by the atmosphere. Continued global warming cost America sixty billion dollars towards combating respiratory symptoms and diseases. Air quality deteriorated throughout the century with more events being initiated[footnoteRef:2], accompanied by a continued rise in global warming and climate change that had adverse economic effects (for instance, decreased crop, manufacturing raw material, and production vitality). This led to a collapse in the food industry. The absence of resources for feeding mankind resulted in hunger becoming humanity’s greatest battle. [2: Bill McKibben, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone, July 19, 2012]
Environmental and social consequences of the massive warming
Contemporary researchers have confirmed a century-old concern — with increased warming, the northern permafrost would thaw and frozen soil containing dead but non-decomposed plant remains would begin steadily releasing more carbon into our atmosphere. This phenomenon has been underway for some time now, but its pace and extent is yet to be verified. According to a recent research, for a moderate level of warming (roughly 1.2°C more) from 2010 to 2100, the global permafrost emitted was between 44.8 and 122.6 gigatons of CO2, further tightening our carbon budget[footnoteRef:3]. This global "carbon budget" concept was first introduced during the early part of the previous century when scientists started calculating how much coal, gas and oil we could still safely burn. [3: Chris Mooney, “The Magic Number:” The Washington Post, (November 25, 2015).]
Twenty-second century Americans are becoming aware of the changes occurring around them, some of which include: hotter and longer summers, never-before-experienced unusually hot spells, warmer and shorter winters, heavier rains, increased severity and duration of previously-seasonal allergies, the types of birds visiting their locality in a given month, plant varieties growing in their vegetable patches, and so forth.[footnoteRef:4]. Iowan corn growers, Washington’s oyster growers, and Vermont’s maple syrup makers have been reporting out-of-the-ordinary climate-linked changes. [4: National Climate Assessment, “Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” (2014)]
Other more-dramatic changes are also being witnessed across the nation. A few coastal cities have witnessed their streets flooding more often than before during high tides and storms. A similar phenomenon is being reported by inland cities through which large rivers flow, particularly Northeastern and Midwestern cities. A few high-risk areas are witnessing a growth in insurance rates, while others aren’t offered insurance any longer. With premature snowmelts and drier and hotter weather, Western wildfires are commencing earlier than before and lasting much longer, thereby burning more acreage. Arctic Alaska has witnessed a receding of its summer sea ice which, at one time, offered protection to the coasts. Lastly, autumn storms are now being more erosive, and forcing several communities to relocate[footnoteRef:5]. [5: Ibid]
What went wrong in the 21st century?
Humanity was slow to realize that the planet’s climate was changing; however, this realization was not followed by prompt, effective action to save it from destruction. The twenty-first century was marked by weak attempts at brokering a post-Kyoto agreement, with different world regions choosing to pursue their own selfish priorities. When the matter exacerbated, concerned authorities began collaborating and in 2017, the Paris Climate Accord (PCA; a global agreement) was signed. Still, governments had to combat climate change using reactive strategies and started enacting hard policy for changing how businesses operated and how citizens led their lives. At this point, a fact to bear in mind is that the US even withdrew from the PCA about a year after it was signed[footnoteRef:6]. Over time, governments began overlooking their role when it came to controlling climate change and the production sector continued to contribute to polluting the planet further. [6: Supra, note 1]
Globalization experienced a never-before-seen retreat within the divided twenty-first-century world. In spite of the 2012 Climate Agreement, factions emerged owing to accusations of carbon market ‘cheating’ and the presence of undeclared, ‘secret’ power stations[footnoteRef:7]. Aggressive resource wars and an inefficiently-organized climate change response led to global society’s splitting into a number of protectionist blocs. The climate change factor magnified risk, increasing the strain on communities ill-equipped to cope with its effects[footnoteRef:8]. The ensuing dissent and competition led to price hikes, discouraged trade, left millions hungry and sick, and hindered long-run planning. With the century’s more pressing needs being given increased priority, the task of mitigating more climate change had been practically abandoned by all. [7: PBS Frontline, “Climate of Doubt,” (2012)] [8: Supra, note 4]
Governments become preoccupied with securing supplies, restricting their exports, hoarding assets, and levying exorbitant import taxes for safeguarding their respective economies. Cyber criminals and violent groups took advantage of this chaos, promoting and financing their nationalist cause. They scrambled for precious resources, launched a few disastrous biochemical attacks, and attempted to paralyze communication networks. The internet grew fragmented, with a small scholarly group preserving a global network in their desire to achieve global reunification[footnoteRef:9]. Still, several twenty-first century people struggled with financial hardships, incessant conflict when it came to precious resources, societal discord, empty markets, increased nationalism, and restrictive security. All these contributed to preventing collaborated, significant action to deal with climate change. [9: Ibid]
How environmental, political, and cultural factors together blocked adoption of sustainable strategies
The world’s sustainable development challenges, in the course of the last few years, have been governed by “megatrends”, including shifting social and economic dynamics, technological advances, trends promoting environmental destruction, and shifting demographic profiles. It is imperative to acquire a better grasp of the relationships between these megatrends and related economic, environmental and social changes in the current twenty-second century, for a better chance at combating global warming. The UNO’s sustainable development conference, conducted in the Brazilian capital, Rio de Janeiro, between June 20 and 22, 2012, highlighted numerous interconnected challenges that needed to be prioritized, including sustainable energy, sustainable cities, decent jobs, disaster preparedness, sustainable agriculture, oceans, water, and food security[footnoteRef:10]. [10: Brad Plummer, “Scientists made a detailed “roadmap” for meeting the Paris climate goals. It’s eye-opening.” Vox, March 24, 2017. ]
The twenty-first century encountered challenges in every sustainable development area, namely, economic, environmental and social. Over a billion of the world’s inhabitants were poverty-ridden and starving, coupled with a steady growth in income inequality among and within nations. The simultaneous matter of unsustainable production and consumption patterns led to massive social and economic costs, continually endangering life on Earth. Sustainable development needed action on the part of the global community, to work towards accomplishing the legitimate aspirations towards increased social and economic growth, employment, and strengthening measures to protect the environment[footnoteRef:11]. This task, however, was daunting since balancing employment opportunities and desired economic growth usually necessitated turning a blind eye to sustainability concerns like reviving coal mining within certain areas of America for reviving entire communities’ economies by generating employment opportunities. [11: Supra, note 2]
Without significant behavioral change on humanity’s part, sustainability is unlikely. Within the social context, population growth and unsustainable production and consumption trends among the rich were the greatest challenges when it came to the attainment of sustainable global development. Other societal obstacles included; entrenched inequities and marginalization of underprivileged classes, lack of awareness of sustainable development, inadequate civilian-government interactions, environmental issues between the masses and politicians thus dividing civil society, and inadequate private sector incentives for pursuing sustainable development[footnoteRef:12]. Lastly, inadequate environmental, economic and social methods for plans, projects, and policies constituted the key political barriers challenging sustainable development implementation. [12: Michael Mann and T. Tolles. "The Madhouse Effect." (2016).]
Conclusion
The planet’s most precious natural resources include land, water and energy, whose magnitude and manner of exploitation impacts climate change. Systems providing these resources have also proven to be highly susceptible to climate change. Hence, efficient management of resources is highly crucial, for adaptation as well as mitigation purposes. Sustainable development must be all-inclusive paying special attention to the needs of society’s most vulnerable and underprivileged. Action-oriented, collaborative, and elaborate approaches are required, for adapting to different development levels. These approaches must systemically alter production and consumption patterns, and may, among other things, include significant price modifications, decrease inequality, bolster economic governance and encourage natural endowment preservation.

References
Mann, Michael, and T. Tolles. "The Madhouse Effect." (2016).
McKibben, Bill. “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone, (July 19, 2012).
Mooney, Chris. “The Magic Number: Holding Warming Under Two Degrees Celsius is the Goal. But is it Still Attainable?” The Washington Post, (November 25, 2015).
National Climate Assessment, “Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” (2014)
PBS Frontline, “Climate of Doubt,” (2012)
Plummer, Brad. “Scientists made a detailed “roadmap” for meeting the Paris climate goals. It’s eye-opening.” Vox, March 24, 2017. 
Roberts, David. “There’s a huge gap between the Paris climate change goals and reality.” Vox, (November 6, 2017).