The last day
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The Last Day of the First Decade unveils the First Day of the Second Decade of the Third Millennium. But apart from the changes in days and months, from one year to the next, hardly anything else will change – except Time, which, like Change, is the only constant that keeps changing.
Time waits for no man. The world keeps on turning – and we keep on learning. And we've surely learned a lot this past decade.
The year 2000 heralded new promises of new beginnings and Global action on many fronts. The United Nations (UN) set eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 9/11 attacks in 2001 led to two World Wars that continue to this day. The global Food, Fuel and Financial crises created havoc for hundreds of millions worldwide. The most spectacular Olympic Games and the most colorful FIFA World Cup were held. And the internet and wireless gadget communications revolution quickly changed the way we live.
But the last decade also saw how Climate Change changed minds about the importance of climate and weather to mankind's survival. Various man-made and natural phenomena combined to wreak havoc and claim well over 500,000 lives across the globe. From the Asian tsunami to the Haiti earthquake (each of which claimed a quarter of a million lives), lessons were taught about the importance of disaster preparedness. The unexpected Icelandic volcano closed Europe's skies, but the expected brutal 2010 winter that closed so many airports in Europe and the USA could also have been better prepared for. Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill both exposed how ill-equipped the world's greatest power can be in such emergency cases. The 2010 Pakistan floods killed thousands and displaced over 20 million. Altogether, the experts report, over 260 million persons were affected by natural disasters in 2010 alone. (And that doesn't include casualties of the devastating end-of-December Australia floods brought by heavy cyclone rains that followed ten years of drought.)
The UN succeeded in firmly placing Climate Change on the world's agenda during the last decade. People became more aware of the inconvenient truths, as well as the clear and present, inherent and future dangers. But the nations most guilty simply refused, for all of the past ten years as well, to accept their share of responsibility. The world embraced the Kyoto Protocol, but by the end of 2010 Japan followed the U.S.' 2001 decision and pulled out, leaving low hopes for continuity of meaningful global emissions reductions commitments after 2012.
