When thinking about emerging software trends, you probably think of things like WebAssembly or GraphQL. Sustainability may not immediately come to your mind, but, like many other industries, it is a theme that is increasingly coming up. There is a climate problem. Our planet is about 1˚C warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution, and it continues to heat up. It will have warmed by 1.5˚ by 2052 (best-case) or 2030 (worst-case) .
It took me a while to realize that, while it sounds innocuous, even a 1.5˚ change can be serious. It's easy to think "if it's 2 ˚ warmer when I go out , I'll hardly notice it", or even "if it warms up a few degrees, that's fine. I can wear flip flops and have an excuse Eat more ice cream!" (In Finland, I was offered ice cream in February, but I guess it's a regional preference, the rest of us save ice cream for the hot summer months.)
Sadly, a 2 ˚ rise is the opposite of good . A warmer world would be a more dangerous place. Hostile environments and dwindling natural resources create political instability and human suffering . We are already seeing the effects of climate change: extinctions , hurricanes , destructive fires and floods .
WTF. This is bad!
Yes, yes, it is.
Ok, but what does that have to do with me?
Climate change is a complex issue. It's like technical debt, except in our infrastructure and policies. In the long run, a major refactoring will be required, but what we need to do now