The World is a Better Place and We Must Tackle Climate Change

2019 07 01 head

The world has really improved in a lot of areas.

_Stop whining we are doomed.

And yes, we must act strong and fast to tackle the climate change disaster._

Remember how much the world bettered the last centuries.

We are not doomed, we must solve the next challenges instead of just complaining and doing nothing.

  • Ask yourself if you need a car.

  • Travel by train instead of flying.

  • Schedule a video conference instead of a business trip.

  • Reduce your plastic and paper usage.

  • Each step reduces your carbon footprint.

Millions of people taking similar steps will be a huge improvement. Just do it!

The late Swedish academic Hans Rosling has identified a worrying trend. Not only do many people across advanced economies have no idea that the world is becoming a much better place, but they actually even think the opposite. This is no wonder when the news focuses on reporting catastrophes, terrorist attacks, wars and famines.

Who wants to hear about the fact that every day some 200'000 people around the world are lifted above the $2-a-day poverty line?

Or that more than 300'000 people a day get access to electricity and clean water for the first time every day?

These stories of people in low-income countries simply do not make for exciting news coverage.

I am proud to be an engineer. Engineering is about models. How objects and energy are acting in the universe. Engineers are well-aware that facts and empiricism validate our assumptions about the world.

It is strange and disturbing to meet people who have opinions and do not want to talk about facts. Often they grind out sentences to avoid talking about facts.

Examples are flat-earth believers, vaccination opponents, or wireless opponents.

By the way, do you know that Edward Jenner is considered the founder of vaccinology in the West in 1796. After he inoculated a 13 year-old-boy with vaccinia virus cowpox, and demonstrated immunity to smallpox. In 1798, the first smallpox vaccine was developed.

What is better?

Extreme poverty is plumping down

2019 07 01 world poverty

Literacy and education is exploding

2019 07 01 world literacy

Health is improving and child mortality is crashing

2019 07 01 world life expectancy

Please stop the doomsday trashing and start to act to improve your social environment and diminish your solution footprint. I am tired of hearing we cannot improve our world. Stop lying and look at the facts. Feel free to argument based on facts.

I recognize that we have to solve challenging problems and success is not guaranteed. I am just tired of negative thinking and persons claiming we cannot improve our world.

Start learning and explore the data on Our World In Data. They have a lot of interactive charts.