2050 STATE OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD REPORT : A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

The world keeps developing and changing as time passing by, whether to a better way or worse in some aspects of the environment and population growth. Many developments are moving forward to modernization (e.g., Technology), but there are some which moving backward (e.g., Fashion). So, what kind of change and development that would have happened in 2050?

To imagine what 2050 would look like, first of all we need to see the past, which is world in 2012. Because I’m a firm believer , that to be able to understand the future, you must know the past.  We should consider what has taken us to where we are today and what has changed along the way.

What kind of world that we had in 2012? We had world with  many big issues, such as environmental degradation, fossil-fuels dependent, global economy collapse, wars, poverty, uncured diseases (e.g., AIDS), starvation, global warming, and so forth. But, there were a lot of communities and movement that created by some people who have big concerns to our world’s issues. At that time, everyone started to look for every possibility of sustainable development in almost every aspect. Sustainable development was kind of famous and well-known issue in 2012. What will the world look like in 2050?  Worse or better?

Here we are in 2050. The world’s population has surpassed 10 billion people. We don't need to visit India or China to grasp the consequences. All of us have lived with it. The world’s population in 1999 was 6 billion and by 2012 has reached more than 7 billion. According to the UN population division, the earth’s population will increase by 150.000 people per day, which means there are 1 extra billion people on earth every 10 years. The world will need to increase food production to feed our increasing numbers, we will need to find more ways to grow more food per acre. Population and waste are mathematically linked to resources and the climate. We are definitely in the process to food and resources crisis now.

As the world’s population approaches ten billion, the challenges facing humanity have never been greater. Fortunately, the solutions to many of the most fundamental challenges can be found in science that have created countless innovations. But providing the food, energy, and safety needs of a growing population will require more than science alone, we also need humanity . These two things that have been helping us from the crisis and problems through the years . By 2050, the world consumes a lot more energy than years before , and while the demand for energy grows, the supply of fossil fuels doesn’t. Deep expertise in microbiology, fermentation, polymer science and electrochemistry have helped make possible the transition from fossil fuels to more sustainable alternatives.  I see countries utilizing clean energy (wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy, or perhaps a new and clean energy source) instead of fossil fuels. People have aware that we can't still live an over-consumptive life without thinking about how to replace the resources that we already used. We’re starting to run out almost all the resources, therefore we don't have any other option than to applying sustainable ways of living. Every element of human is starting to apply it, such as controlling living conditions (e.g., ecovillages, eco-municipalities and sustainable cities), reappraising work practices (e.g., Using Permaculture, green building, sustainable agriculture), or developing new technologies that reduce the consumption of resources. People now have realized that sustainability isn't just about saving forests and animals, but more to do with effectiveness of using all resources, including energy and waste reduction, among others.

The issues associated with population growth seem endless : poverty, food and water supply, world health, climate change, deforestation, fertility rates, and more. It’s hard not to be alarmed, right now on earth, water tables are falling, soil is eroding, glaciers are melting, fish stocks and more species are vanishing. A billion people go hungry each day, mostly in poor countries. We’re waiting for the time to human extinction. The earth is in critical condition, we need a lot of big changes against our mindset, behavior, and habit.  It might too late to re-design the world, but it’s not too late to change the ways we all consume. If this over-populated things keep on going, we’re going to face wars and great slaughters soon . The population growth must be cut out. A decrease in the human population would prevent a significant amount of man-made human suffering, such environmental degradation. I think CO₂ emissions must be drastically reduced at almost any cost. The good news is the era of explosive growth is expected to end by 2050.

Thus, what we might see in 2050 is the transition of a fossil fuel-dependent society , a higher degree of concern for living sustainable, population explosion and all the problems that follow. This whole writing competition is important because, at least we can give some time to think about the future and it makes us aware. Predicting the future is important , we need to start to think about what kind of future we would like for ourselves and for the next generation, moreover we need to know what decisions we need to make today for the better future. By observing our future, we actually create it. What human mind observes, it will be created, sooner or later.

Can the planet take the strain? How big will the population actually grow? Neither history nor science can certainly guide humans to the future. The answers will depend on the decisions each of us makes, or we might be doing is repeating the same stories in history in different scenarios. Whatever it is,  may humanity and the wonderful planet on which it was born , live long and prosper.