The author's take from 2022
Although there are many bad things happening right now there's still hope.
So no, I don't think that we're fucked yet, but nonetheless, we're pretty close!
The war in Ukraine?
Yep, it is bad and war is always bad. But it's not WW3. And right now I don't think it's going to happen.
We still have some options left to make this war either stop or at least not making it spread.
There are many people right now screaming for military actions or at least building or buying fancy weapons (also growing the nuclear arsenal). In my opinion, these people want war. They're much like that maniac president who started the war. Don't listen to them!
Why don't we interfere, you might ask?
Well, unfortunately that one is easy. And it's probably good that it's easy!
Because, given one NATO country starts battling with the Russian Federation (or the other way around), this will get every NATO member into a war against Russia. If and when this happens, the world as we know it will most likely be over.
It's pretty safe to assume that someone with Putin's personality will try to get at his enemies at every cost. Which means: They will start attacking with nuclear weapons pretty soon.
There's a phrase which (paraphrasing) goes like this:
In a war there will mainly be losers on both sides.
In a nuclear war there will only be losers globally. Each and every one will lose.
Their livelihood, their relatives, their friends and pretty much likely their lives.
The reason for that is: If one nuclear power started sending out only one nuclear warhead, the other side will try to eradicate the aggressor by all means before they'll start another one. I can't stretch this enough! One nuclear weapon will most likely lead to total destruction of most of the world.
NATO countries will start everything they have trying to prevent Russia from starting any more nuclear weapons. Which Russia will counter with throwing at them everything they still got. The same is valid for the other way around.
That being said, mot of the time the situation always will be a bit more complicated. However, countries will follow some kind of escalation ladder, depending on the initial aggressor's degree of the attack.
If you're interested in this topic and want to read a fictional story about it, I can really recommend
Ken Follet's latest book Never
(Affiliate link!).
I've recently read this book and can very much recommend it.
Also, there's that interesting and a bit depressing TEDx Talk by Brian Toon about nuclear wars:
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Would anyone survive?
Yep, but for many of them life will be real torture. Most will be sick (not only by radiation), starve or be involved into major and minor wars and conflicts. Technology, electrical energy and heating will be rare and expensive. Many of us would have to be farmers, gatherers and hunters, again.
But! There's a bright side (You should know by now that I like to be sarcastic)! The following nuclear winters and the destruction of most of our industries might prevent the worst effects of climate change from happening.
If you're still in a playful mood you might want to try the nukemap simulator to get a picture of what nuclear weapons can and can not do.
And Climate change?
In the long run this is even scarier.
Based on the UN Global Assessment Report you can find different pieces, like what you're currently reading, warning of doomsday related to climate change.
Given, we managed to avoid total annihilation, the following task at hand is even more difficult. We will have to pivot our way of life. Instead of economic growth we have to change to a more sustainable way of life.
In the short run this might be painful, but, in the long run, it will save us and most of our technology and scientific achievements. So please, try to do your thing by saving energy, eating local food and try conserving and using stuff as long as possible. And holding companies accountable for their actions and waste production.
But it doesn't stop there: Agriculture right now does many things wrong and relies heavily on Carbon Fuel based technologies (like fertilizers).
The good thing, there might be a solution:
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And if you really want to make a difference, check out my friend Tiago's app Changeit.
There's also a discussion about this site's very topic on reddit.
Also, the global goals list gives you an overview about what we could do to make the world a better place, including possible actions.
Although I don't agree with everything written in
Bill Gate's How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
(Affiliate link!), it's definitely worth a read if you're interested in this topic.
At least in parts we seem to be on a good way, although the development could be way faster.