When people used to make predictions for the future, they’d have visions of hovering cars and robot butlers.
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However, according to the latest sustainability report from IKEA ‘People and Planet Positive 2017’ the world will be faced with far more challenges than benefits in the years to come. The report says that, “the world will be four degrees Celsius hotter by the end of the century.” A temperature rise like this would be catastrophic for the world and the human race.
We’ve also got a huge over population problem. In 1990, there were only 12 cities with a population over 1 million, whereas today there are over 400 and the amount of urban habitants grows by more than one million people every week.
Due to this epic population growth, we are currently using far too many resources – a rate that requires 1.5 planets. You do the math.
Because of our shortage of resources and the rising temperature, by 2030 over half of the world’s population will live in places with scarce water. This will only continue to become an issue as it is estimated that the global population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050. When you bear in mind that it wasn’t until the 1800s that the amount of people in the world reached 1 billion, you can see how rapidly the growth has been.
In order to feed everyone, we will require about 70% more food by the year 2050 and to combat some of the drastic changes, we will need to shift to smart home energy management. This does not seem too hopeful when you’ve got someone like Donald Trump AKA a climate change denier in charge of one of the most powerful countries in the world.
And if that news weren’t pessimistic enough, all great apes including chimps, gorillas and orang-utans are at risk of extinction. Meanwhile there will be more transport delays, more emissions, more air pollution and drastic overcrowding, particularly in the cities. The number of environmental refugees could reach around 200 million by 2050 as well, due to issues such as drought and flooding.
Basically, our world is sick and is only set to get worse – either we put the poor thing into recovery and start looking after the planet or we will go down with it.
To see what London will look like when climate change hits, click HERE.
