Intro: comparisons
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The graphic compares the exploitation and consumption of the Earth’s resources (forests and energy), and the environmental and climate damage (increase in CO2 emissions, temperature, sea level and ice melt) caused by man. The data shown concern and compare the situation that existed in 2000 (left column) and that which exists in 2021 (right column), exactly two decades apart. A careful examination shows that the human modus operandi has worsened, in fact the benchmarks on the “state of health” of our Planet have increased negatively and significantly.
Looking at what is happening to the world’s climate, it is easy to see how humanity still relies on a predominantly “fossil” economy, i.e. one characterised by the exploitation of fossil resources such as coal and oil. A world economy that is still too resistant to an increasingly necessary “change of course” that instead foresees and clamours for the adoption of innovative and clean remedies and solutions, such as wind, water and solar energy.
Unfortunately, the slowness of this necessary “turnaround” is also caused by global society’s own misperception of the negative effects of climate change, which recognises them as “far from potential permanent damage”: the real situation is that we are in danger of disregarding most of the Goals set out in the Paris Agreement (2015) that should help to achieve a more sustainable future.
The pandemic due to COVID-19 has abruptly brought us back to reality about the very fragility of human society and this, in part, has prompted us to reconsider our relationship with nature and the climate. While with the pandemic we may have a vaccine that allows us to solve the problem, with climate change the situation is more complex and in fact the remedies are still too slow. But, by now, climate change represents a “chronic disease” for both the Earth and human society, which instead need a real ecological transaction towards more sustainable economic, social and cultural systems.
It must be kept in mind that this transaction is a very long process, almost comparable to that experienced by the Industrial Revolution. So all of us (not only the institutions and national and international organisations) are called upon to do a huge job on our consciences, a diligent job that will allow us to make a change in our own lifestyles to save ourselves and the planet, but we must act now in a concrete manner because this fundamental opportunity presents itself today, “tomorrow” could already be too late.
2000 – 2021
What has happened to our planet in the last twenty years?
2000
2021
Population

6,1 Billions of people
7,9 Billions of people
Average Temperature

14,7°C
15°C
Minimum Arctic Ice Extent

6,2 Millions of km2
3,7 Millions of km2 (Sept. 2020)
Sea Level Rise

+ 3,2 Millimetres per year
+ 4,8 Millimetres per year
Earth Overshoot Day

23/09/2000
22/08/2020
CO2 Concentration in the Atmosphere

370 Parts per million
417 Parts per million
Area Covered by Forestsread more

3,9 Billions of hectares
4 Billions of hectares
Waste Generated

632 Million tonnes (total OECD countries)
705 Million tonnes (total OECD countries in 2019)
Share of Electricity from Renewable Sources on Total Production

18%
29%
Endangered or Vulnerable Animal or Plant Species

11.041 (Red list - lucn)
37.480 (Red list - lucn)