E@zyVG’s Vichar::World Connected

Getting up each day without the prospect of having something to look forward to is a grim reality for many people. The ill or elderly at home, the imprisoned, the homeless, the poverty-stricken, or the depressed of the world all may have many, if not most, days when their hopes of interaction with people or activities are bleak. For these people, having something to look forward to would positively impact the quality of their lives.

Even young people in our world today describe times when they feel like they have no hope for the future. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing to brighten their days or the weeks and months to come. Depressed youth who are self-medicating with drugs (including alcohol) to minimize the feeling of hopelessness or to numb their emotions talk about having nothing exciting on the horizon. If they truly feel as though they have nothing to look forward to, they are at risk.

The disenfranchised of today have no dreams, and dreams are what make up our optimistic feelings for the future. Many people let it get the best of them and succumb to hopelessness. Others realize that no matter how far the downward spiral of despair goes, there is always reason to hope and begin an upward climb. There is always something to look forward to.

This realization is what gives people the spark of hope they need to keep going. Through the doubts and fears of day to day life and the challenges they must overcome to stay on an even keel, they cling to the hope that their circumstances will improve. The significance of this hope, even if it is just a glimmer or a ray, is what keeps them trying to make headway. It’s what keeps them trying to move forward, if just a step at a time. It is what distinguishes them from the hopeless.

What can we look forward to? For the believer, there is life after death. Sometimes that is enough to look forward to when all else in life seems to have failed. For others, it can be the next hot meal, the comfortable, warm place to sleep, or the visit or phone call from a loved one, friend, or neighbor. For the youth who has little hope for the future, it can be encouragement from a parent, a teacher, a pastor, or a friend. It can be an upward climb to a better education and success in the world. It can be getting a job, or getting a better job, or having a suitable career. For the seriously depressed, it can be as simple as a day when the sun shines brightly through the bedroom window.

Looking forward to another day is important to us. Not just to those who have serious problems in their lives, but to all of us. A fresh cup of coffee, a prayer, a warm shower, and a day free of stressful encounters are enough for some of us. A good grade, a well-written article, or a pat on the back will do for others. Looking forward to a way to help someone else on their journey through life is something many of us cherish. No matter how our lives are fulfilled, having something to look forward to each day is important for measuring how rewarding our lives are.

Rainforest in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Climate change could speed up the large-scale destruction of the Amazon rainforest and bring the “point of no return” much closer than previously thought, conservationists warned today.

Almost 60% of the region’s forests could be wiped out or severely damaged by 2030, as a result of climate change and deforestation, according to a report published today by WWF.

The damage could release somewhere between 55.5bn-96.9bn tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the Amazon’s forests and speed up global warming, according to the report, Amazon’s Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire.

Trends in agriculture and livestock expansion, fire, drought and logging could severely damage 55% of the Amazon rainforest by 2030, the report says. And, in turn, climate change could speed up the process of destruction by reducing rainfall by as much as 10% by 2030, damaging an extra 4% of the forests during that time.

By the end of the century, global warming is likely to reduce rainfall by 20% in eastern Amazonia, pushing up temperatures by more than 2C and causing forest fires, the report said.

Destroying almost 60% of tropical rainforest by 2030 would do away with one of the key stabilisers of the global climate system, it warned. Such damage could have a knock-on effect on rainfall in places such as central America and India, and would also destroy livelihoods for indigenous people and some 80% of habitats for animal species in the region.

The “point of no return”, in which extensive degradation of the rainforest occurs and conservation prospects are greatly reduced, is just 15-25 years away - much sooner than some models suggest, the report warns.