First was the threat of the ice melting down, polar caps and glaciers. Now we have the threat of the financial system melting down as well.
Both meltdowns seem to have globally disastrous consequences, which we are incessantly told about by the media.
However, I find myself wondering whether these should really be the concerns at the top of my list.
The first reason I find to doubt whether I should really be worried about the meltdowns, is that dramatic predictions about dire scenarios have been made plenty of times before, and seldom they have come to pass (e.g. a new ice age, the y2k bug, etc.). Of course this time the predictions might be right, but there are still so many things we don’t really understand (both in how the climate works and the economy, scientific, technological and maths advances notwithstanding), which makes these predictions quite vague on a quantitative level, if not on a qualitive level as well. You might argue we should prepare for the worst case scenario, but then how often do you do that in your personal life, or with your personal finances?
The other reason is that I think there are more pressing issues to worry about: for example the injustice of wealth distribution in the world (a small percentage of the world population consumes a much higher percentage of the world resources), causing lots of poverty, misery and wars around the world. Of course global disasters will affect everybody, but is it really worth preserving a world where so much injustice takes place? If we put lots of effort into “saving” the world, should we not put at least as much effort in making it worth saving? Or as worth as possible?
Luca Rastello 