The Beginning of the End: Humanity at a Turning Point

 

The Beginning of the End: Humanity at a Turning Point

The emergence of life, evolving from single cells to complex organisms and eventually to millions of species on Earth, including humans, has been the rarest and most significant phenomenon in the history of the Earth. Humans appeared on planet Earth about 250,000 years ago, whereas the age of the Earth is more than 4.5 billion years. In such a short time, humans have learned to grow a variety of crops to meet their regular food demands. During this time, humans have also excelled in exploiting natural resources to survive, sustain, and bloom, and to take on climatic challenges and natural disasters with the help of science, technology, and the development of modern engineering. But with the current pace of development across the globe, are we not witnessing a turning point in human history which we can call “the Beginning of the End” of human existence?

Mankind was born in Africa. After going through the evolutionary process, the world population of Homo sapiens was only two million in 50,000 B.C., which rose to five million by 8000 B.C. The slow growth of population was because Homo sapiens functioned only as hunter-gatherers, and the number of people in a given area was determined by the availability of food. With the passage of time, humans learned to grow and store food, which helped in the rise of population.

When the population grew beyond its capacity to sustain, “mortality catastrophe” got activated, resulting in famine and disease, leading to debilitation and death. Because of this, by 5000 B.C. the population rose only to 12 million, and by 1000 B.C. it was 125 million. Post 1000 B.C., it grew to 335 million. The world reached its first billion in 1818. It took 105 years to reach the second billion. After that, it took only 36 years to reach the third billion and just 15 years to reach the fourth billion. Later, humanity took only 12 years to add each additional billion. It reached the 8 billion mark in 2022. Further projections show that it will take 15 years to reach 9 billion and another 23 years to reach 10 billion, where it is expected to come to a halt. When it reaches 10.3 billion, the world population will begin to decline.

Human civilisation, with a population of 8.3 billion people, has reached a critical zone. It is teetering between an authoritarian super-class and rightist and leftist ideologies. Although scientific developments are helpful, the pace of global climate change is outstripping the rate of technological advancement. Multiple wars, extreme inequality, a looming climate collapse, and technologies capable of challenging the very existence of humans have brought humanity to a crossroads.

Industrial civilisation is facing an “inevitable decline” as it is replaced by a far more developed “post-materialist civilisation,” based on distributed, super-abundant clean energy, which is the only basis for the development of humanity. Research tells us that “civilisations evolve through a four-stage life cycle: growth, stability, decline, and finally environmental transformation.” Today’s industrial civilisation is moving through a rapid declining phase towards its end. We are heading towards a stage where the level of civilisation will be directly proportional to per capita consumption of energy.

Earth is not only a planet; it is a living organism that is changing with the evolution of life in different forms on it. A flourishing life is the only foundation to keep the Earth alive. We are all an integral part of the planet’s ecosystem. We have caused severe damage to it through deforestation, loss of natural habitats, and land degradation. Preserving biodiversity and ecosystems, and promoting the sustainable use of resources, is the only key to our own survival.

 

Tags: #agriculture, #Century, #citizens, #earth, #environment, #factory, #getgreengetgrowing, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #humanity, #planet, #solar