What’s Wrong With The World?

We are paying the price.

I almost have lived a quarter of my life in this world. But I’ve never seen every part of the planet go this crazy at once. These two years made me question myself, “what’s wrong with the world”?

I hear people die every second around the world not because it’s time to leave this world naturally but because they are urged to, in an inappropriate unexpected time by a natural disaster like earthquake, cyclone, flooding, wildfire, and above all, an uncontrollable microscopic virus. According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, there have been 19 disasters only this year except for the ongoing civil wars. You can imagine the impact, right? 2021 is not even over yet.

The world is on fire.

Raging wildfires across the world are burning hundreds of people, thousands of animals, and millions of acres of vegetation alive. Nearly 20 countries from California to Russia are on fire. In some countries, the blazes of fire have been raging continuously for months. Millions of people have been left homeless. The fires spread across so fast and furiously, giving little time for people to evacuate. The people who escaped through the fires describe their experience as going through hell.

Siberia in Russia is known as one of the coldest places on the planet due to its freezing temperatures. Can you believe Siberia has been battling a drought, heat waves, and wildfires for nearly three months? Shocking right? Siberia accounts for almost nine percent of the Earth’s land. To our dismay, fires in Siberia are the largest in recorded history. For the first time in history, the wildfire has reached even the north pole.

The world is crying.

While a vast territory of Russia battles wildfires, the other side of Russia, the Amur region, has been hit by floods. Heavy rains have triggered flash floods in this region. The country is struggling to cope up with this freak weather. In July, an unprecedented downpour dumped a year’s worth of rain in just three days in the central city of Zhengzhou in China, giving rise to a deluge. Muddy water flowed through the city and subways, washing away the vast buildings and vehicles as if they were toys, disappearing more than 300 people. Record-breaking heavy rainfall has affected nearly 300 million people and damaged 9000 homes.

A deadly flood also hit Europe in mid-July. A rainfall worth two months came in just two days, killing nearly 250 people.

Heavy rainfall has triggered floods in the Southern U.S state of Tennessee. More than 20 people have lost their lives, and about 30 are missing. This has been described as the state’s deadliest disaster in decades.

The world is drying out.

Have you noticed a significant rise in almond prices? California is the world’s largest almond producer fulfilling 80% of the world’s almond demand. Currently, the orchards are being in deficit irrigation. The nuts need water throughout the year. But now the trees are not getting the amount of water they should get. In a nutshell, a part of California has been hit by a severe drought.

The world is angry.

Extreme heat events are being reported all over the world. The most recent devastating incident was recorded in Western Canada. The country was caught under a “heat dome” in late June, a phenomenon causing scorching temperatures when hot air is trapped by high-pressure fronts and heats up even more as it is pushed back down. The country reported the highest temperature at 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking records several times. Heatwaves have killed more than 500 people.

Or the world will blow you away.

According to ABC News, 6 million Americans are now under a hurricane warning people are in danger at the moment of writing this article. The crowds are packing in the New Orleans airport, and there are massive traffic jams on the roads.

Urgent evacuations in Louisiana were announced about 11 hours ago because hurricane Ida expected to come ashore tomorrow morning (30/08/2021), 16 years to the day after Katrina. Ida is gaining strength in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, expected to make landfall as a category four tomorrow, bringing a dangerous storm surge, flooding rain, and powerful winds.

Honorable mention- The Covid-19 Pandemic

On 11th March 2020, the WHO declared a Covid-19 pandemic. Countries were locked down, economies were brought to a grinding halt, traveling was banned, and above all, people are still dying. By the time of writing this blog, 216 million people have been infected, and 4.49 million are dead. Within months an entire population has gone forever. Owing to a tiny virus that even can’t be seen from our naked eyes, the people, a species known for the most intelligent beings ever, are stuck nowhere with a blurred future. The coronavirus is invading the planet, mutating into more strong variants.

I noticed a lot of bizarre things that we might have never heard before are happening. It feels like that the rarest events are becoming more common.

Eye of fire

Have you ever seen the ocean on fire before? The Gulf of Mexico caught fire after an underwater gas pipeline ruptured. It was like a scene from a disaster movie. Some people called it an eye of fire, and some said it looks like the portal to hell opening up. Firefighting boats had to pump water for nearly five hours until it was eventually extinguished. It freaked me out seeing a glowing fireball above the sea’s surface. I don’t think that the damage it caused to the ocean and its marine life can even be calculated.

The Mud Volcano

It’s no secret that thousands of mud volcanoes are distributed worldwide, and they erupt from time to time, oozing out gallons of mud, sometimes destroying the villages. The oil-rich nation Azerbaijan is home to nearly a third of the world’s mud volcanoes, both underground and underwater. But I was blown away seeing a massive mud volcano eruption with plumes of fire reaching 100 meters above the Caspian Sea near Azerbaijan in this same year.

What’s going on?

Conclusion

The fire, water, air, and earth all four elements have stood against us. From droughts to flooding, the consequences of climate change are there in front of our eyes. We are paying the price for decades of ignorance and excess consumption of the world.

Karma is real! There’s nothing wrong with the world.

Be prepared! The worse is yet to come.

Don’t hesitate to comment with your ideas😊

Thank you for reading!