The world is stumbling into an era of increasing unpredictability-be it political or technological; from every new election of a world leader bringing unique policies to technological marvels pushing the limits in what can be considered meaningless innovation. It seems our world has deemed the absurd and unnatural to be the new status quo. Everything about our world reeks of a comedy of errors and with the proverbial sky falling every other week with a new issue gripping the world, the unpredictable, and often the outright insane has been normalised.
Society is barrelling towards an international economic meltdown; with the class divide more apparent than ever before, the poor get poorer and the rich gets richer. Furthermore, if we as a species are aiming for our long-term survival, it is a given that we must transition into a zero-carbon economy by 2050. Our current rate of carbon emissions means that the situation is already dire, the world is at risk. If we do not work towards reducing carbon emissions, our world is headed for a bleak future. The looming threat of mass displacement, flooding and heatwaves hang over our heads and yet our species has decided to stick our head in the mud and continue with our typical melancholy existence.
So, what can young people do to solve these imminent crises? Well, it’s simple, compete! As competition increases in every field, so too will humanity’s progress in that field, as the scientists and leaders of the future are pushed to the limits by their competitors, and are therefore more productive.
So where will our society be in 30 years? At our current rate we may be headed towards the closest humanity gets to a mass extinction event, as the rising population and sea levels finally make their mark. With the demand for food production growing larger by the second, and yet the land available to grow the food diminishing, as the rising sea levels gobble up yet more land, our world seems guaranteed to face world hunger issues in the near future. With the pressure of so many crises placed on the immature young shoulders of the next generation, many simply give up hope, deeming it to be too late. It is this defeatist mentality, and the general indifference regarding such issues that the youth must work to nip in the bud.
Young people must take action and they must take action now. They must champion the causesthey believe in and make strides for their specific causes, either by raising awareness and bringing the attention and efforts of the world towards an issue, or by trying to solve the issue themselves, with the means they have. Such people will be steady and reliable hands at the helm of an otherwise rocky ship. We stand at a crossroads, with two different outcomes beckoning. We may either be facing a prosperous future, where technology has made life a breeze, or we may face the horrific consequences of our own actions; in part earth’s payback for the pollution. Which road we go down depends on the youth of today. Society is at a crossroads; the ball is in our court.
The writer is an A-Level student at Aitchison College. He is an avid reader and an eloquent public-speaker and serves as the general secretary of the Aitchison College Literary Society, and is also the Editor of Aitchison’s premier magazine, The Aitchisonian
