Collapse of the Environment

Summary

The fundamental concept of protecting the environment has failed to be internationally accepted. Nation’s continue bickering and assigning blame causing international discussion to become heated. The animosity created from failures on the environment spills into all international issues; humanitarian aid, trade, terrorism, finance regulation, airline regulation, etc. Nations focus on regional and local solutions rather than global solutions. Technology is created that enables humanity to address individual issues and situations. However, people’s lifestyles do not fundamentally change. Consumption habits remain unaltered which causes limited resources to dwindle and disappear. Low availability of resources raises international tension and regional long wars. The temperature of the earth continues to rise due to rising green house gas emissions which continues severe weather phenomenon and sea levels to rise. Droughts, severe hurricanes, and massive flooding tax the emergency funds of governments. Animals are not able to cope with the rising temperatures which effects the entire food chain. Ecosystems begin to fail as biodeiversity vanishes. The collapse of the ecosystem instigates a long global war and the collapse of several nations.

Description

2010

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change continues to fail at providing a new regulation on green house gas emissions. Media, NGOs, and global leaders highlight the failures of the United Nations, specifically the United States, China, and Europe. The environmental becomes another tool to degrade international relations. The economy of the world recovers from the economic downturn of the financial crisis by 2011. Investment in sustainable technology continues to increase at the same rate it did previously and still only in developed countries. These new technologies like Light Emitting Diodes (LED) lighting are an easy win to decrease energy consumption. The reductions created by these new technologies are large but not enough by themselves to halt the increase of green house gasses into the atmosphere. Consumption habits do not change. Consumers expect businesses to be acting sustainably, but the majority do complain about high costs for products and services. As a result, businesses switch to green advertising, but do not change their methods. Businesses do move towards sustainable practices but only when it is easy and the costs are low. These superficial movements towards sustainability are not great enough to balance the increase of 600 million people to the global population and the increase of consumerism in developing nations. Our consumption of resources such as oil, fish, water remains high and increases. The tuna reproduction stock in the Mediterranean Sea has collapsed. Failure to lower quotas or temporarily ban tuna fishing earlier in the decade has resulted in dramatically lower catches by the end of the decade. Prices skyrocket as realization of the situation spreads. Oil reserves will only last for 30 years. Green house gas emissions continue to increase. This causes, by 2020 temperature, sea levels, and the average number of storms to rise.

2020

Green house gas levels increase causing the environment to continue to degrade. Temperature has risen 0.15 degrees Celcius, sea levels have risen 5 cm, and the average number of storms has risen from 11 to 13. Weather patterns become erratic and extreme. National emergencies are declared for areas hit by the irregular weather wasting government resources. More wealthy people move inland away from coastal regions of Southeast Asia, Southeast America, and the Caribbean. The poor stay and watch their infrastructure and economy collapse. Regular forrest fires and droughts cause people the more wealthy to move away from Southern Australia, California, and Florida. After insurance companies pay billions for these disaster hit areas they have stopped covering any area that is at risk of severe weather. Governments step in to provide insurance and then collapse when a region is hit by severe weather. Other governments become more aggressive about attaining stable water supplies. This additional tension fuels existing wars and starts new ones. Sustainable technology has continued to achieve growth and high revenues in localized regions. Thanks to the work of some Non-Governmental Organizations sustainable technology is partially subsidized locally and nationally in some circumstances, but not internationally. Germany is currently a leader in subsidizing solar panels and Greenland focuses on geothermal technology. The technology created only addresses piecemeal issues and they rarely reach out of their region. The high price of oil forced consumers to by cars that use less fuel. This resulted in car emissions to become greatly reduced, but emissions from factories remains unimproved. Our rate of consumption increased. Resources continued to be consumed at increasing rates and prices reflected the decreasing supplies. The distance between rich and poor nations grows. Brazil, Russia, India, and China continued to prosper due to their access to large amounts of resources. Stockpiling of resources began on a massive scale. The Mediterranean tuna fishery has been completely emptied. Only a handful of fishing boats bring in catches sufficient to stay in business the rest turn to other species of fish. Blue fin tuna is removed from nearly all restaurants as it is impractical for restaurants to purchase the fish. Only the super rich can afford the rare delicacy. Those still in business benefit from the high prices and minimal supply. Other fish species begin to show signs of decreasing populations. Local governments pass regulations regarding their citizens and businesses. Individual states within the United States pass various versions of emissions laws. Some of these laws conflict with national environmental protection laws and legal adjudication is necessary. As people witness more evidence of the collapse of the environment there is a subtle change in perceptions and paradigms. Non-Governmental Organizations continue to market and educate the public on sustainable issues. However, the Non-Governmental Organizations are not coordinated and focus on their individual agendas.

2030

The world population has reached 7.9 billion. Carbon Dioxide has risen from 388 ppmv in 2010 to 440 ppmv. This has caused the temperature to rise another 0.15 degrees celcius. The sea level has risen 6 more cm and the average number of severe storms each year rises to 16 form 11 in 2010. High population and the unstable environment reduced food supplies. Poorer nations suffer massive deaths due to famine. Local wars over basic resources have escalated into a global war. Migrants fleeing famine and severe weather devastated regions are welcomed by more stable nations as long as they fight to obtain more resources. Island nations continue to raise the issue of rising sea levels to the ineffective United Nations. This war has lead to the consumption of resources to remain high. Instead of lasting until 2050, the high demand of oil for the war has lead it to oil being depleted in 2030. As other resources become depleted neutral nations are brought into the conflict. Renewable energy continues its popularity to fuel electric drone planes and transportation vehicles for the war. The extinct blue fin tuna story becomes an addition to the hundreds of case studies regarding the failure of humanity to act on sustainability. An artificial tree able to absorb carbon dioxide is perfected and is capable of being mass produced. Individual allied governments implement programs to purchase the artificial tree, but the scale needed to affect global warming is never reached without a global agreement.

Common Characteristics

The lifestyle of humans as a whole does not change. More people become aware of the issues of sustainability, but most still do little to affect the situation. People continue to rely on their governments to set standards and regulations while demanding these do not interfere with their daily lives. Individual businesses incorporate corporate social responsible issues into their core values and processes. There is no standard of measurement or standard of goals for these issues. Although businesses may operate in similar manners the results of their social responsible initiatives may be completely different with each marketing their results as the more beneficial. Cooperation among governments occurs at the regional or local level when shared resources and interests are involved. Some global regulation and agreements are achieved but scientists predict detrimental results are still inevitable. The environment continues its increase in temperature. Natural resources and animal species dwindle as they are affected by the increased temperature rise.

Key Uncertainty

The impact of non-government organizations (NGOs) and individuals. If NGOs are able to reach critical mass by bringing awareness to people and change their fundamental views on the environment then there will be an effective grass roots movement demanding change.

Timeline