THE YEAR PLANET CHANGED

WE KNOW THAT WE LIVE IN THE AGE OF CLIMATE EXTREMES. WE ARE NOT IN DENIAL. BUT WE ARE NO LONGER THE SOCIETIES THAT WORK FOR COMMON CAUSES

- SUNITA NARAIN

2024 WILL mark the year when the world has changed in more ways than one. It is the year that marks the beginning of the time of climate change-when each day some part of the world is hit by extreme weather events; when a new record of heat or cold stress is made and then broken; when communities already living on the margins of survival are devastated to the point of being unable to recover from the frequent disasters. This is a different era. Scientists describe this as the Anthropocene Epoch, which in geological time is defined as the period when human activities have significant impacts on the Planet's climate and ecosystems. Everything that we have done for human progress-for increased well-being and wealth generation-has breached national as well as planetary boundaries.

It is also the period of momentous changes-in the way we behave with each other as human beings; in the global norms of what is right and what is wrong; and in the power of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that will drive virtually everything in the next few years.