Not everything is good, but it’s getting better

Many people today are afraid of transformation and change. They forget that the entire history of mankind is a story of transformation, change and improvement.

This is why young people in particular feel that their lives are constantly in danger and have no prospects. They are afraid of the future because they are constantly confronted with negative short-term news about droughts, floods, famines, climate catastrophes and rising sea levels. The long-term positive developments are lost in the process. But this leads to resignation and despair. That’s why I want to let an expert on long-term positive developments have her say here: Hannah Ritchie.

The Englishwoman is a senior researcher at the influential online publication “Our world in Data”, which summarises the latest data on the world’s biggest problems. Hannah Ritchie has summarised these eight most important developments of the last 200 years in a book, which she has given the telling title: “Not the End of the World: Surprising facts, dangerous myths and hopeful solutions for our future on planet Earth” | ‎ Chatto & Windus 2024

These data – summarised in eight theses – do not say that all is well, but they do show that our world today is decidedly better than in earlier times:

Firstly, since 1960, the annual infant mortality rate has more than halved. What a marvellous achievement.

Secondly, maternal mortality has also fallen worldwide in recent years.

Thirdly, until the 19th century, the average life expectancy in England and Germany was between 30 and 40 years and even at the turn of the century it rose to only 50 years, in the middle of the 20th century it climbed to 70 years and in 2019 it was over 80 years. All over the world, people are living longer than ever before. But hardly anyone is interested in this.

Fourthly, hunger has been the order of the day for almost all of human history. Hunger was the hostage of humanity. This only changed in the last decades of the 20th century. Technological progress in particular made agriculture much more productive. The lives of almost all people were no longer primarily a struggle for survival. But hunger is still a major problem today. Around 700 million people still do not have enough to eat. But in 1970 there were three times as many. Of course, the problem is not that we produce too little. The UN already calculated at the end of the last century that we produce enough to feed around 13 billion people. The hunger problem can also be solved. After every second lecture I give, I hear “There are simply too many people in the world. That’s the real problem”. This is a widespread misconception. It is true that millions of people still have too little to eat, but billions have too much and are overweight. The real problem is global inequality.

Fifth: In 2020, 75 per cent of humanity had access to clean drinking water. In the year 2,000, it was only 60 per cent. Sewerage and sanitation save millions of lives every year.

Sixth: For eight years, 300,000 more people have gained access to electricity and clean water every day.

Seventh: In 1820, only ten per cent of adults worldwide could read and write. In 1950 it was 50 per cent, today it is over 90 per cent. The important question is: what do we do with all this intelligence?

Eighthly: In 1820, three quarters of the world’s population lived below today’s extreme poverty line of 2.15 US dollars a day. Today, less than ten per cent live below the extreme poverty line. Every day there are 189,000 fewer people.

These eight positive developments have – on the one hand – improved the lives of billions of people. However, this tremendous progress is underexposed in public and published opinion. On the other hand, this progress has also come at a high price for the environment: Air pollution, climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, plastic in the sea and overfishing, to point to just a few of our problems today.

The success of the solar world revolution will soon be recognised worldwide as the ninth point of progress.

Every new child born today will be able to say in 20 years’ time:

I was born in the dawn of the solar world revolution.
I have experienced the beginning of the solar age and
I know that the sun will win.
This gives my life purpose and meaning.

• Hannah Ritchie “Not the End of the World: Surprising facts, dangerous myths and hopeful solutions for our future on planet Earth” | ‎ Chatto & Windus 2024

Source

FRANZ ALT 2024 | Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator