World Futures Fall 2021

Summary of the year for the Port of Virginia. They did not see the severe backlogs noted by some of the west coast ports. It also mentions their investment into automation.

Article centers on trade relations and its effects on different ports. It mentions west coast ports dominating US ports in volume, but other ports are continuing to grow. Talk of investment now for the future. This article is pre COVID, so it's interesting to see the ideas before the effects of the pandemic were realized.

DRIVER-SCARCITY The Industrial Revolutions improved living standards for people in most nations where technology proliferated.[1] Populations in modern societies are not overly concerned with accessing food or water on a daily basis. In particular, the availability of clean, freshwater is a reasonable expectation throughout the modern world. However, a growing lack of water ("water scarcity"), propelled by continued technological advancement and high demand, is creating a global crisis. This resource scarcity will change long-held expectations and demonstrate the capacity to disrupt the security and stability of entire regions. This Article examines the global state of freshwater scarcity[2] and the often-neglected linkages of water scarcity to economic, social, political, legal, and security consequences arising from disruptions, failures, or attacks on water access and distribution systems.[3] Our research concentrates on examples of the impacts of water scarcity from past and present utilizing selected examples from North America, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. We contend that poorly understood links between access to adequate water and national stability pose severe global security risks, especially if technological and policy correctives are not implemented to increase water resiliency and ensure availability and access.

DRIVER-POLITICS Water Politics Limited, a geopolitical risk advisory and consulting firm, found that water scarcity could lead to conflict or political instability in many countries. Sources including the Euphrates, Tigris, Jordan, Nile, Danube, and Okavango rivers as well as the Tibetan watershed and resources will become insufficient to support the surrounding areas. These sources currently provide water to dozens of countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Water scarcity will therefore affect communities across the globe. Importantly, it may spark conflict over remaining water resources, within a nation or even between nations. Anya Groner at The Atlantic points to evidence of past conflicts that have revolved around water. These include the riots in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2012, which responded to inequality in the distribution of water resources.

DRIVER-POLITICS Over the past two decades, global studies on the water have reported ongoing issues. In 2008, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report said that while there is greater access to drinking water, there are still about 1 billion people without access to safe water and more than 2.5 billion people without good sanitation. The Charting Our Water Future Report by a consortium of business partners in 2009 said that water demand will exceed supply by 50 percent in 2030.

DRIVER-POLITICS-SCARCITY Water scarcity is one of the most pressing humanitarian crises facing the world today. Access to water resources has far-reaching political and social implications, especially in areas where water is scarce. Natural water basins do not comply with man-made political borders, and as a result, the allocation of precious water resources becomes a point of negotiation in transnational treaties and agreements. Adding to the politicization of water is the connection between water and energy production. Water is needed for all types of energy production, and energy is needed for the extraction and dissemination of clean water

In recent years, there has emerged a broadly shared sense that political moderation is dying. Joe Biden's victory in the Democratic primary has been widely interpreted as the last gasp of an exhausted tradition, after which he will hand over the reins to the party's left. Meanwhile, moderates have been an endangered species in the Republican Party for going on two decades now. The decline of political moderates lies at the root of many of our fundamental governing problems. As American political parties have become increasingly captured by their ideological extremes in recent decades, the space for cross-party coalition-building has shrunk. Where moderates were once critical to establishing coalitions across party lines, both parties' leaders today have established a hammerlock over the agenda in Congress, allowing only single-party alliances to form except under very unusual conditions.

CIPPEC is an Argentina-based independent nonprofit organization that works on better building public policies. The report presents four domestic politics scenarios: Many hands for little cake - Disperse power in exclusive societies. Cohesive and powerful - Integrated societies that have a voice in politics. Members only - An exclusive world with concentrated power. One for all - Concentration of power in inclusive societies and four Global Governance scenarios: Big foot in a local world Big Friendly Giant - big firms in a global scenario Small is beautiful The small under global rule

Using the chemical signatures found in marine microorganisms, the researchers found that the Arctic Ocean began warming rapidly at the beginning of the last century as warmer and saltier waters flowed in from the Atlantic - a phenomenon called Atlantification - and that this change likely preceded the warming documented by modern instrumental measurements. Since 1900, the ocean temperature has risen by approximately 2 degrees Celsius, while sea ice has retreated and salinity has increased. A number of factors, perhaps some that we still do not understand, make up our complex ecosystem. While climate scientists have made some predictions about what we must do to protect the ecosystem, it is highly likely that we do not understand all of the factors involved, resulting in the recommendations being either too aggressive or too understated.

"For, above all, it is the chasm between the rich and poor in our societies and on a global level that Covid-19 has unlocked. The fatal flaw of the Enlightenment - the unfulfilled promise of economic, social and political equality - has opened up beneath our feet. We are not so much as being thrown back into a bygone primitive age, as being thrown forward into a primitivism that is the true essence of twenty-first century capitalism."

"Despite the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vulnerable in the United States, the percentage of Americans in food-insecure households held steady in 2020 at 10.5%, figures released on Sept. 8, 2021, show...That food insecurity stayed stable was due to various government actions."

Trust in the federal government's handling of international problems has fallen nine percentage points since last year to a record-low 39%, and now matches the level of trust for its handling of domestic problems -- one of only a few times that has occurred. Confidence in the three branches of the federal government is low on a relative basis. Although a 54% majority of U.S. adults trust the judicial branch, this is down 13 points compared with 2020. Americans' trust in their state and local governments' ability to handle problems under their purview continues to be higher than trust in the federal government and its three individual branches. As has been the case in recent years, confidence in local government (66%) remains higher than it is for state government (57%).

A majority of Americans continue to say they see the effects of climate change in their own communities and believe that the federal government falls short in its efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change. At a time when partisanship colors most views of policy, broad majorities of the public - including more than half of Republicans and overwhelming shares of Democrats - say they would favor a range of initiatives to reduce the impacts of climate change

When the National Election Study began asking about trust in government in 1958, about three-quarters of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time. Public trust reached a three-decade high shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but declined quickly thereafter. Since 2007, the share saying they can trust the government always or most of the time has not surpassed 30%. Currently, 36% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they can trust government, compared with 9% of Republicans and Republican-leaners. Throughout Trump's tenure, more Republicans than Democrats reported trusting the government, though that has flipped since Biden's election.

One-in-ten eligible voters in the 2020 electorate was part of a new generation of Americans - Generation Z. Members of Gen Z are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation, and they are on track to be the most well-educated generation yet. But when it comes to their views on key social and policy issues, they look very much like Millennials.

Article takes a look a worldwide effects of rising sea levels. There seems to be a more drastic effect likely in areas in Northern Sea areas, but all ports to be affected, and since 80% of commerice is shipped, the areas serviced by the ports will be affected.