Overview Drivers

Drawing up strong global drivers that can redefine the future on Earth

Text and drawings by Frits Ahlefeldt, Hiking.org

Today there are a lot of local and global drivers of change. Still some of these drivers are stronger and more dominating than the rest. I have picked seven of the most robust global trends, so strong that each of them alone can make all the difference to how we thrive and survive or perish here on Earth over the next fifty years

Big data and new knowledge

Today our collective global knowledge expands in many directions with the speed of bits, but at the same time we are no longer the only ones building knowledge and driving innovation

Big data stream bits in a helmet looking self-confident — Big data, the all new driver of global change – Click image to read the page

Climate change and extreme weather

Global warming, extreme weather and sea-level rise are all heading our way because of how we treat the planet: Climate change is one of the most ignored and scary global drivers of change. Experts say we are in the middle of terminating more than half of the living species on the planet in the next few years, something that is unseen since the dinosaurs died out. And it is an open question how we humans will face this challenge

Drawing of a climate change monster — Climate change will become one of the most demanding challenges in the near future – click image to read the page

Sustainable energy

Solar power and other renewable sources of energy are becoming cheaper to use than fossil fuel today and are becoming a very fast growing, huge global driver of change

Population growth

In 1959 we were 3 billion people on the planet, today we have past 7 billion, fast moving towards 8 billion, demanding ever more food, landscapes, resources, comfort and space for our exclusive use. Human population growth is one of the most demanding drivers of change Earth has ever seen

a lot of people looking out of the same helmet, driving world trends — The world population is a huge driver of global change – click image to read the page

Pollution and habitat loss

On a global scale we face a whole new and fast driver of global change the double challenge of running out of places to live and grow food, and facing huge mountains of pollution, both at sea, on land and in the air

drawing of helmet with pollution — Pollution and habitat loss drives global change more and more – click image to read more

Genetics

For countless years we have wished we could change the code of life, that dream is fast becoming reality as the new science of genetic engineering become a global driver of change

Drawing of a fish in a helmet, with a bird body and human feet — Genetics as a driver of global change – click image to read the page

Technology

One of the drivers of change that has been with us since we started diverging our path from the rest of creation around 500.000 years ago – starting the first fires with our spark of innovation