Why do civilizations collapse? Is our civilization in danger?
Why do civilizations collapse? Is our civilization in danger?
There are many reasons for the collapse of civilization: environmental destruction, natural disasters that humanity cannot handle, global warming, rising sea levels, deadly viruses, nuclear war, and oil depletion. Our current civilization is having a fatal impact on the Earth due to environmental destruction and waste since the Industrial Revolution. Or, just as the dinosaurs went extinct, we may perish due to a natural disaster that humanity cannot handle. So, is the current human civilization on the path to destruction? So why is that so?
Currently, due to global warming, the overall temperature of the Earth is rising, causing the glaciers in Antarctica to melt and sea levels to rise, causing phenomena that pose a threat to human security. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7346 According to this data, there is data of steady sea level rise from 1920 to 2010 on the eastern coast of North America. And humans have buried disposable products that are difficult to decompose in the environment underground, and pollutants from factories have polluted the Earth in various ways. Additionally, some scholars say that oil depletion is not far off due to indiscriminate use of oil. However, even 10 years ago, there were scientists who predicted that in 10 years, all oil would be depleted and humanity would face a crisis, but currently, humanity has not run out of oil. Why? The reason is that over time, humanity has developed ways to find oil and use alternative energy. Likewise, if humanity can create energy in the future without polluting the environment in any innovative way, the destruction of humanity may be pushed back a little further. There is no guarantee that our humanity will perish in the near future, and we cannot say that humanity is currently perishing. However, we need to prepare in advance for future humanity and for ourselves today. There are various solutions to this. Ways to prevent global warming and environmental pollution include using electric vehicles, using eco-friendly products, reducing the use of disposable products, and making it a habit to separate waste even when discarding it.
Additionally, in order to obtain the necessary resources, we humans destroy the ecosystem and throw wastewater from the process of making things into the ocean. It takes a lot of time and effort to restore a damaged ecosystem. Therefore, we need to plant trees or make efforts to prevent wastewater and microplastics from being exposed to the environment, and let people know that this has a very serious impact on the environment. And many people think that the Earth is polluted and sick due to human environmental pollution, but in fact, this is not the case. It is not the Earth that is sick, but humans that are sick and polluted. We need a way to think more about our future and come up with solutions.
However, even with these efforts, there is a high probability that human civilization will slowly collapse. This is because human development inevitably comes with environmental pollution and various problems. Unless there is a huge scientific and technological revolution and all energy problems are solved. There is nothing in this world that is eternal. The same goes for us humans, but I think we have a duty now to destroy the environment a little less and slow down pollution for the sake of future generations. This isn’t just for you, it’s for everyone.
DOYEON (DANIEL) KIM
work cited
Nyman, Rickard, et al. “A Simple Model of the Rise and Fall of Civilizations.” Entropy (Basel, Switzerland), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 5 Sept. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10529410/#:~:text=Explanations%20for%20.
You searched for Civilization. Popular Science. (n.d.). https://www.popsci.com/?s=civilization
