Reflections for a New Year

By Roberto SavioROME, Jan 3 2020 (IPS) In a world shaken by so many problems, it is difficult to look at 2020 and not make some kind of holistic analysis. While enormous progress has been made on many fronts, it is clear that the tide has turned, and we are now entering – or have already entered – a new low point in the history of humankind.. Roberto SavioToday, we face an unprecedented existential threat brought about by the climate crisis. According to scientists, we have until 2030 to stop climate change, after which human conditions will be under several threats. Yet, we have just had a world conference in Madrid on climate change, which ended in nothing. Not only that, but since the beginning of the last decade, there has been a singular change of the relations of politicians with climate. Climate has become not a scientific but a political issue, with a number of politicians of not minor weight, like Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban, Matteo Salvini and Vladimir Putin arguing that there is no climate crisis. Some of them, like Australia prime minister Scott Morrison, take holidays in Hawaii even as fires have destroyed an area large as Belgium. Since the end of the last decade, we have seen also another change in a vital environment: democracy. With the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989, everybody was told that the threat of communism had now gone. As Francis Fukuyama famously wrote, it was the end of history. Capitalism and market would unify the world, and lif...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Climate Change Democracy Economy & Trade Education Environment Featured Financial Crisis Gender Global Headlines Health Human Rights LGBTQ Migration & Refugees Poverty & SDGs Religion TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news