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NEWS & INSIGHTS

Making the World Better for Future Generations

The Apocalyptic Film 2012

Could it really happen?




A humongous earthquake strikes Los Angeles, the United States, and a family desperately attempts to escape in a private plane. But they soon discover the effects of the seismic shift are not limited to California's metropolis. A huge tsunami circles the entire globe, swamping even the peak of Mount Everest, and causing supervolcanoes to blow sky-high.

 

Literally the End of the World!

Those who predicted the catastrophe in advance and can afford it undertake a modern “Noah's Ark” project. Only the select few can board: the global ultra-rich and empowered technocrats knowledgeable in the field who funded the expedition will get a ticket to ride this “New Ark.”


Thus opens the apocalyptic movie “2012,” graphically portraying the process of instantaneous destruction of the earth as the center of the earth heats up like a microwave oven due to intense and sustained solar flares.


Unrealistic though it might seem, in the last decade or so, natural disasters including massive earth tremors, tsunamis, and wildfires have been occurring around the world at an alarming tempo, recalling this ominous movie, originally screened in 2009. Anxiety is ratcheting up that colossal calamity threatening the entire human race may indeed be in the offing.


These Next Ten Years
The Top Ten Dangers Threatening Our World



Download “Report 2022” at: https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-report-2022


In January, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published “The 2022 Global Risk Report.” This annual assessment is prepared by the World Economic Forum at the beginning of each year based on a survey of 1,000 leading businessmen, academicians, scientists, and well-placed officials from 124 countries in the fields of economy, science, politics, and society. In this year's Report, experts named “The Environment” as the most important threat looming over humanity in the coming 10 years.


A careful examination of the contents of the report raises real concern that the devastating scenarios portrayed in the film “2012” might indeed come true. The report itemizes the top 10 salient risk factors that humanity and the globe may have to grapple with in the next 10 years. These hazards are divided into five areas: economy, environment, geopolitics, society and technology. Experts cited the environmental field “Climate Action Failure” as the biggest danger hanging over us.




To summarize, the chief dangers risk experts foresee in the coming decade are, in order: ▲failure to take action in climate change ▲extreme weather phenomena ▲biodiversity loss 

▲weakened social cohesion ▲livelihood crisis ▲epidemic disease ▲human harm to the environment ▲crises over natural resources ▲debt crisis ▲global economic confrontation.


We're constantly hearing about environmental issues, and it can grow tiresome; we become inured to the topic. But the gong of doom is not backing off—ranking second and third place are also environmental warning signs: “extreme weather” and “biodiversity loss.” In other words, the top 3 global risks are all environmental in nature.


Not only these, but “Human environmental damage” and “Natural resource crises” placed 7th and 8th. They are also concerned about the biosphere, establishing that not only our perceptions but also scientific and statistical indicators point to the natural environment as the biggest danger impinging on humanity's existence now.



 

Environmental issues span the greatest global
>short-term, medium range and long-term risks



Worse yet, environmental issues figure as the biggest global hazard over the short, medium and long term. The report lists risk factors as short-term (2 years), medium-term (2-5 years), and long-term (5-10 years). “Extreme weather” and “Climate action failure” are consistently at top of the list.


Environmental problems are happening around us right now; every indication shows that they will pose even more serious challenges in time to come. If this continues, we may find ourselves in the calamity of the film “2012” in the not-too-distant future.


“What is the level of organized response to climate change?”
68% of the experts surveyed responded “in the initial phase”



When queried about the “level of response to climate change, 68% of the experts responding to the report answered that it was “in the early stage. 9% of the respondents said that we have not started yet. The World Economic Forum stressed that “comprehensive climate action by businesses, policy makers and civil society is essential to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.”

 


Intensifying crises linked to COVID-19

warn of "Social Danger"

Six percent! This is the overall rate of COVID-19 vaccination for the 52 world's poorest nations. The report also examined the risks most exacerbated by COVID-19 and found that “social risk factors” increased significantly due to the pandemic. Among the causes of increased social risk are social distancing, vaccine inequality, and economic deterioration aggravated by COVID-19.





In 1st place is Social cohesion, Livelihood crises hold 2nd place, Climate action failure ranks 3rd, and 4th place features mental health deterioration.


Social instability from such risk factors inevitably undermines effective national policymaking. The report points out that the growth gap between developed and developing countries due to vaccine inequality may hamper a unified response to global issues such as climate change.




The question of our very survival or downfall:

The answer lies in our actions!



- The temperature high in Cordoba, Spain in 2017 was 46.9°C (highest ever recorded)

- Dallas, Texas recorded the lowest temperature in 72 years: -19°C in 2021

- Summer temperatures in the normally ice-bound Arctic now hover 10°C higher than usual.

 

Abnormal climate phenomena are cascading all over the world, causing records to tumble. The protagonist of the apocalyptic film "2012" wages a desperate struggle to save his family with human extinction looming on all sides. Perhaps this present moment, now is the golden time for such a last-ditch effort to postpone the extinction of humankind.


The final scene of 2012 is neither a joyful relief nor a gloomy tragedy. In any case, the President of the United States in the screenplay states the golden one-liner: “The world as we know it is coming to an end.” That says it all. In order for our planet not to end as in the movie, we living, breathing people must take action now to stem climate change!



Sunhak Peace Prize

Future generations refer not only to our own physical descendants
but also to all future generations to come.

Since all decisions made by the current generation will either positively
or negatively affect them, we must take responsibility for our actions.