One thing everyone can agree on is the past decade was eventful. But did civilization make progress in the 2010s or did the world move backward?
The teen years pose “some of the most difficult challenges.” They are a period of “disorientation and discovery” and can be “ripe for producing conflict.”
Others see the past decade as an era of progress. The world economy was crippled by the Great Recession at the end of the 2000s. Today it is thriving, especially in the U.S. Global issues like extreme poverty, child mortality and a number of infectious diseases are at their lowest rates ever recorded. More people than ever gained access to potable water, electricity and the internet.
The chance to substantively address climate change was squandered“Even as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere race toward levels that could lock in catastrophic warming, the world continued to pump out more. Our collective failure to begin cutting emissions over the last 10 years almost certainly shatters the dream of halting rising temperatures at 1.5 ˚C.” — James Temple, MIT Technology Review
Hope that the internet would be a force for good was dashed“The second decade of the 20th century began at the apex of naivete about the potential for the internet to enhance democracy and improve the quality of life on Earth. By the end of 2019, very few people could still hold such a position with honesty.” — Siva Vaidhyanathan, Wired
LGBTQ rights made substantial gains“In state and federal policy, in national political discourse and public opinion, LGBTQ people became truly visible, not just as a small minority whose sex lives inflame the culture wars, but as diverse subjects whose humanity should not be circumscribed by discrimination under the law.” — Christina Cauterucci, Slate
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