If this keeps up.
Published by violet September 5th, 2008 in Punkass!, "Science"2011 — The arctic ice cap is completely melted.
2015 — The deadline for the U.N. Millennium Development Goals passes. None of them are reached.
2032 — World energy consumption reaches 1 zetajoule. About 62% comes from coal, 0.1% from solar energy.
2046 — The price of oil reaches $1,000 per barrel.
2041 — 100 million people are recorded as living with AIDS. 10 million people will die in this year.
2050 — World population reaches 9 billion people. Half live without reliable access to drinking water.
2052 — 5 billion people are living in extreme poverty.
2058 — A major U.S. political party nominates a woman for the presidency.
2060 — Six million women are raped this year worldwide.
2063 — The last surviving coral reef dies. One million ocean-dwelling species have gone extinct since 2008.
2109 — The price of oil exceeds the price of gold.
2141 — The major U.S. political party nominates an openly gay presidential candidate.
(I didn’t do super super intense research for these. Like Nostradamus’ prophecies, many will likely be inaccurate. Flay me when that happens.)
I think that in general, you are being a bit too conservative in your estimates.
You should totally read “Ark Liberty” by Will Bradley. He pretty much follows your environmental timeline to the letter.
“Too conservative” as in, “the world is probably in the express handbasket, and I have the regular timetable?”
It’s definitely possible, since I just extrapolated current trends individually, without taking into account what, say, $1,000 / barrel oil would do to the rate of world hunger. Though I also didn’t think about what $1,000 / barrel oil would do to transportation technology, so it might even out to some degree.
It’s possible we might fix some problems, too. Hence the title.
This might make you feel better…
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/10/22/sea-ice-approaching-the-edge-of-normal-standard-deviation/