As human beings, it is within our nature to pin a great deal of hope on the future. Whether this occurs in the smallest possible ways – such as getting into bed at the end of a difficult day, hoping for a better tomorrow, or watching the clock hit midnight and wishing our loved ones a better new year – or on a grand scale, with visions of a distant utopia unrecognisable against our own world, it is testament to our own breed of courage and perseverance that, even in trying times, we can look ahead.
Of course, following the events of 2020, we are no strangers to that sense of life falling short. We are all too keenly aware of what it means to feel as though the future has been derailed, and our hopes for improvement, hampered.
Still, these early months of 2021 are testament to the fact that circumstances can, and do, change – and that we are capable of liberating ourselves from ‘trying times’, and of once again turning toward the prospect of ‘better times’.
Still, if hope feels a little remote, here are just a few of the forces quietly preparing the world for better years to come.
Scientific and Technological Innovation Continues, and in the Right Direction
2020 was living proof that we can exist within a climactic moment for technological innovation – a time that existed beyond the wildest dreams of people envisioning the future just fifty years ago – and still suffer tremendously at the hands of nature. COVID-19 was no anomaly in that regard – there remain plenty of menaces to human health around the globe, from disease and illness to hunger and thirst.
Fortunately, technology’s evolution is not slowing down, and philanthropists like Tej Kholi, George Soros, and Bill Gates are pouring resources and support into creating platforms for researchers working tirelessly to eliminate some of the most pressing health concerns that exist within our modern world.
From issues that afflict some of the very poorest communities, such as blindness and hunger, to the development of new technologies that can improve the quality of life for those living with disabilities, cutting-edge research is hurtling forward at a tremendous rate.
Governments are Getting Proactive About Cleaning Up, for Good
We are all, by now, aware of the fact that the ramifications for climate change and continued global warming are far more impactful and threatening than they may have once seemed. Our most basic needs, from food and access to clean water, to our ability to remain safe within our own homes and communities, are at risk. With that, so too do we become more vulnerable to disease – a possibility that is all too real to us now.
It is, however, becoming increasingly clear that reversing the damage wrought by so many years of bad habits is beyond the power of the individual – even if we all went to great lengths to improve our habits.
The only way to ensure lasting, impactful, and in-and-of-itself sustainable change is for governments to make reformation, and a transition to renewable practices, technologies and methodologies, a reality. The UK, for instance, has committed to a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – now less than three decades away.
The story is the same in all corners of the globe, and we can begin to feel a ray of hope for a future in which climate change is headed in a positive direction, rather than a negative.
