2000 vs 2010

It's hard to imagine we are already 10 years gone from Y2K! I can still vividly remember celebrating the new Millenium at a family friend's NYE party half in excitement and half in trepidation of the world coming to an end. Has it really already been 10 years? On one hand, time seems to have simply flown by. On the other, this decade has seen me morph from a child to a man and accomplish so much.


As we hurtle into the teens of the 21st century, we should stop and take stock of how the world has progressed over the span of the past 10 years. io9 has done exactly this:


2000 vs 2010: How the world has changed [io9]


The world's population has grown by a billion (it'll be interesting to know how much of that we can hold India and China responsible for), and half of the world's citizens now reside in cities. The Technology statistics reveal how the world has become more connected. More than a quarter of the world's population are now patrons of the world wide web; most people are now connected by fast, round-the-clock broadband subscriptions instead of the 56k dial-up that was the norm in 2000. More than 3 in 4 people have cellphones for communication, banking, and just all-round connectivity. Communications technology is taking over the world. However, the most shocking statistic in my opinion was that natural disasters killed 260,000 people in 2010 as opposed to 17,000 in 2000 (!!!). Maybe something for us to reflect on and look for improvements in emergency management, current infrastructure, warning systems, and disaster response planning?


A lot has changed in 10 years. Change for the better necessarily? I am not so sure. The world may now be flatter, but we are also consuming more energy, facing more destructive natural disasters, and putting more of the species whose care we have been entrusted with on the Endangered list. It is vital that we keep this big picture in mind as our generation begins to take charge and holds the power to change the course of our planet's future. Having said that, the next 10 years will offer us opportunities galore to seize the future, for the future is now.