World War III, Climate Change and Overpopulation: What will end us first?
World War III?
The most known war is the Russian and Ukraine war. The president, Vladimir Putin, announced the attack on Ukraine, to reclaim it back on 24 February 2022. Of course even the Russians disapproved of their president's actions. North Korea has publicly supported Russia and Russia and Iran are strategic and military allies. Russia has also maintained positive relations to neutral countries such as Turkey, Hungary and Egypt. The US and European Union has supported Ukraine. Ukraine has also applied to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) but they can't accept otherwise the rest of the NATO alliance may have to join in the war against Russia which will most likely result in World War III.
The reason why WWI started was because a Serbian patriot assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and within a month, Austria invaded Serbia. And then the military alliances that were formed were brought in and the entire of Europe was enveloped in war. And because countries in Europe also had alliances to other colonies around the world, it became a global war. Although back then people thought wars were necessary such as an American writer, Karl Pearson claimed. But as before, if the war between Ukraine and Russia doesn't cease, and then Ukraine becomes a part of NATO, then the 31 countries in NATO will have to come to Ukraine's aid and those who aren't allies to those countries in NATO will have to join as well. And then Russia will call in those alliances in the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation) and war will reign. So there is a chance that the world will become dark again.
You might be thinking, why does this matter? Well a WWIII will most likely result in humans becoming extinct as countries such as the US, Russia, India and six other countries possess nuclear weapons which are the most dangerous weapons on Earth as they can wipe entire cities. Although people can survive atomic bombs, those who do are severely injured and have radiation burns and ruptured eardrums depending on the distance you are from the bomb. Such as Tsutomu Yamaguchi who survived 2 atomic bombs during WWII. The first one was the Little Boy atomic bomb. He was three kilometres away and badly injured. The second time he was three kilometres below ground zero so unhurt by the explosion. That doesn't mean that nuclear bombs aren't dangerous.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The reason why WWI started was because a Serbian patriot (Gavrilo Princip) assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and within a month, Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia. And then the military alliances that were formed were brought in and the entire of Europe was enveloped in war. And because countries in Europe also had alliances to other colonies around the world, it became a global war. Although back then people thought wars were necessary such as an American writer, Karl Pearson claimed. But as before, if the war between Ukraine and Russia doesn't cease, and then Ukraine becomes a part of NATO, then the 31 countries in NATO will have to come to Ukraine's aid and those who aren't allies to those countries in NATO will have to join as well. And then Russia will call in those alliances in the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation) and war will reign. So there is a chance that the world will become dark again.
You might be thinking, why does this matter? Well a WWIII will most likely result in humans becoming extinct as countries such as the US, Russia, India and six other countries possess nuclear weapons which are the most dangerous weapons on Earth as they can wipe entire cities. Although people can survive atomic bombs, those who do are severely injured and have radiation burns and ruptured eardrums depending on the distance you are from the bomb. Such as Tsutomu Yamaguchi who survived 2 atomic bombs during WWII. The first one was the Little Boy atomic bomb. He was three kilometres away and badly injured. The second time he was three kilometres below ground zero so unhurt by the explosion. That doesn't mean that nuclear bombs aren't dangerous.
Climate Change:
Everyone knows about climate change. How it's heating the world up like a frying pan and boiling the polar ice caps making them melt and the seas rise. How it's our impending doom. But we can change that. As Greta Thunberg stated, " The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and change." And you can contribute by lowering your carbon footprint, like turning off the light and unplugging appliances, as most electrical energy is produced by non-renewable resources such as coal. Also change any incandescent light bulbs you have into more energy efficient ones such as LED lights. But as Henry David Thoreau, an American naturalist and essayist said, "What is the use of a house, if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?" So why should we adapt?
To adapt means to survive climate change. To do this people need to adapt to the new climate of Earth. For example the Haast's Eagle couldn't adapt to find new prey as the humans hunted moa to extinction, and therefore went extinct.
Climate change has turned the world for the worse. There are more frequent and severe droughts, storms, heat waves and the sea levels are rising leaving us with less land. This causes immense losses to countries and islands such as the devastation Major Hurricane Maria caused to the US Virgin Islands, Dominica and Puerto Rico. The oceans are becoming warmer affecting marine wildlife such as coral reefs.
This is why we need to reduce carbon emissions. We can't bring the world back to how it used to be, but we can stop the world from becoming any more blazing hot than it already is. If we are able to adapt and survive climate change then it won't be a problem and we can live in peace like covid-19. Although there was panic and a pandemic with thousands of people dying, once the vaccine was made and spread, covid-19 now has become something like the flu, easy to resolve.
Overpopulation
The world's population has risen to around 8 billion people, and the next billion should be added in less than 15 years compared to how it once took 125 years to grow from 1 to 2 billion people. This has caused natural resources as well as supplies of food and water to be strained and can cause political tension over the resources. Like the islands near Australia, in the coming decade there will be an increased need for international disaster relief. And as the population grows, there is a need for more housing which can cause environmental degradation and deforestation. Water shortage doesn't help either as most of the earth's water is in the oceans and seas which is undrinkable and desalination takes 1 kilowatts an hour of energy per cubic metre of purified water. There is also a greater need for food and this can lead to extinction of creatures, as can poaching and selling products illegally to earn money as there is rising inflation and decreasing employment rates. This contributes to destroying the Earth as less animals means less food meaning we then rely on farms and vegetation for food and plentiful insects or bugs that are edible. The lack of resources and increasing population can also cause countries to start to fight for more land to expand onto, leading to war. Overpopulation leads to water shortage, deforestation, extinction, resource depletion and warfare which can lead us to either adapt to the conditions or go extinct.
So How Will The World End?
It's up to us to decide how and when the world will end. All we can do is be aware of the possibilities and change how we live, and adapt to be able to survive and make sure the world thrives.
