It was a century before the power to do anything harmful was vested in the hands of the countries, but recently with the advancement in technologies and everything available at the tip of the finger, even an individual has the power to harm and cause severe damages. This is true from the fact of the collapse that occurred on the Easter Island wherein all the trees were cut down making it a treeless wasteland. This is something that we all being part of the earth should reflect upon. Are we taking our planet Earth towards Easter Island? Will the 21st century be the final century? There are many experts that are pointing that 21st century will be the final century if we do not control our actions. This is due to the speed with which we are exploiting our resources.
Many of the species are becoming extinct which includes Eastern Cougar, Formosan Clouded Leopard, Vietnamese Rhino, Chinese Paddlefish, etc. Apart from this, the overall temperature of the planet has increased around 1°C and this has caused the glaciers to melt. The animals from south pole are migrating towards north pole due to an increase in temperature. The actions by mankind are responsible for this scenario. But is there nothing that can be done? Let us critically analyse the probable options.
Mankind is known to find solutions to every problem but the only issue is when this move will be taken. This depends on the realisation by the people which was missing in the case of Easter Island. The person cutting the last tree on the island would have not realised the harm that it will be causing to the entire community on the island. Similarly, if we as a group of people on the planet Earth do not realize that our actions are harming the planet then 21st century might be the final century. However, it all depends on how fast we realise this and the earlier we realise, faster we will be able to innovate. This time frame between realisation and the time when everything will be out of control is typically known as the window of innovation and the lesser the window is – the more difficult it will be for all the human beings to innovate.
Thus, to conclude, I would like to give a hint that it is the time for us to start innovating things to reduce the exploitation of the planet as the window has already started to shrink.