Better than You Think? Part 3: Environment, Energy, and Food

Why the World Is (Still) Better Than You Think—New Evidence For Abundance

Update

Polio to be eradicated this year!

Environment

• the global annual death rate from natural disasters has plummeted over the past century
• Faster, cheaper, easier, and more accurate tracking of animals via drones
• Fighting deforestation via drones and machine learning

Our example

The Billion Oyster Project

Energy

• more people around the world have access to electricity than ever, and the absolute number of those without access to electricity is dropping (despite population growth).
• India has gone from 45 percent access to electricity in 1990 to nearly 80 percent in 2014
• Afghanistan [went] from 0.16 percent of the population in 2000 to 89.5 percent of the population in 2014.

Our Examples

Basic Power

Alternative Energy and the Future

Food

• Globally, 18.6 percent of the population was undernourished in 1991; by 2015, it dropped to 10.8 percent.
• Human-Free Farms
• Food From Electricity

Our Example

Child and teen obesity rates soar globally, WHO reports

Bonus

IBM scientists say radical new ‘in-memory’ computing architecture will speed up computers by 200 times

GEEK OUT!

WT 363-673