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Jeanette Wang
Jeanette Wang

Opinion | How much longer can the world support our way of life?

By 2050, it's predicted that we will need almost the equivalent of three Earths to sustain the world’s ever-growing population. If the world continues its current way of dealing with resources, it's not going to be possible, says Green Cross International's president Alexander Likhotal

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Green Cross International's General Assembly is the peak decision-making body that was held on Sept 2 2013 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of our organisation.
Jeanette Wang
Green Cross International's General Assembly is the peak decision-making body that was held on Sept 2 2013 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of our organisation.
Green Cross International's General Assembly is the peak decision-making body that was held on Sept 2 2013 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of our organisation.

In 11 years’ time, it may be time to kiss your iPhone, Galaxy Note or other similar devices goodbye. Assuming production of indium continues at the current rate, some researchers have predicted that the rare metal – used in touch-screen gadgets, LDC displays, and flat-screen TVs and computer monitors – will run out in just over a decade. (That’s also assuming human ingenuity doesn't come up with a new material.)

The world’s resources are finite, but most of us live as though there’s an endless supply of resources. As the population and consequently consumption increase, the earth’s resources get more and more stretched.

“By the year 2050, according to the World Bank, the GDP of the world will reach 200 trillion a year,” Alexander Likhotal, president of Green Cross International, tells me during my visit to the Geneva headquarters of the environmental NGO last month.

“That means three worlds sitting on the resources we have today – it’s not going to be possible unless we change the way we deal with resources and energy.”

A sustainable and secure future for the world has been the goal of Green Cross since it was founded in 1993 by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Through operations in more than 30 countries, it responds to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation, seeking solutions through dialogue, mediation and co-operation. In other words, it’s like a “Red Cross” for the environment.

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