Biggest Threat in the World

To start off, what exactly is a threat? The basic definition of a threat as given by various dictionaries is something that is a menace or a source of danger. This makes the term threat very subjective to the person who is actually considering what a threat is. On a state level, one state can consider the environmental problems as a threat, because they are sinking (yes, Maldives, you are sinking) but environmental problems may not be considered a threat by other states that may not be directly affected by it now. Therefore, whether something is conceived as a threat or not depends on who is actually defining what is threatening. However, despite this subjective interpretation of the term threat, there are several problems that can be considered as the biggest threat to the entire globe, and consequently to all states, and the problem is called oil.

In modern society, oil is god; not only does it drive your car around, but it drives the industry that produces all the goods we need, and is the basic source of all things that we have. Furthermore, intellectual advances would not be possible without oil, because every nation's basic infrastructure is based so much on oil, and the human race has come to rely so much on oil that once oil is gone, then the most likely there would be a catastrophe, and as everyone know,s there is limited amount of oil available in this world. Oil has been formed through fossils over millions of years, and humans are using it up like crazy that it will be gone before we reach our next millenia. Of course, this problem has been realized and now many states and people are aware of the problem of dependency on oil, and has tried to cut back on its usage by investing in green technology, increasing awareness recycling and in general, trying to save the environment and use less oil. However, despite these efforts, the world continues to run on oil, because the green technology is not yet sufficient to replace oil completely. Therefore, dependency on oil is a threat to the all the states in this world; the effects are not visible right now, but once the world runs out of oil, the effect will immediately take place; all the cars that used to run on oil would simply be heaps of metal junk put together; there would be drastically less electricity available, and we may be lighting our stove with two pieces of wood and rubbing it furiously.

Threat of oil depletion is not a threat constrained to one nation. Furthermore, it is not highly prioritized because as mentioned before, it doesn't have an immediate impact or even a continuous impact. This makes oil even more dangerous; one day, everyone will be happily consuming oil and suddenly, oil would be rationed until all the last reserve are gone. This may happen in the next hundred years even in the next decade and no-one knows for sure. However, one thing that is a fact is that the world will run out of oil. This threat may not be considered the most threatening if one has faith in the development of green technology; however, it is a race. Will green technology be developed fully and incorporated into the society to the grass-root level, that there will be no problem when we run out of oil? or will the oil run out first? Even with the full development of green technology, its implementation to all aspects once governed by oil would be a painfully slow process, because we are so dependent on oil. Therefore, it is likely that even with green technology, oil depletion will have serious negative impact on the globe as a whole.

Oil is not only a looming threat that has not yet manifested itself. It is also a threat at this very moment. Because all nations are oil dependent, oil became a valuable resource for a nation, and nations with oil, typically those in the Middle East, has come to maintain a high leverage over the international community as one can see from the oil crisis involving OPEC in 1973. This threat has died down as OPEC has become less hostile; however, it cannot be denied that OPEC holds a large amount of oil. In the current global society, oil has the power to shake the entire global economy and this huge threatening power is in the hands of one party. This can also be described as power concentration in certain pockets. What this means is that those with oil have certain leverage over the whole world, and if needed, can be turned against other states. This power concentration means that other states will be trying to keep a check on this power, while the ones with the power itself would try to stay autonomous. This can give rise to various conflicts over oil, and become the cause of a threat.

IT is undeniable that the world runs on oil. Because of this high dependency and the power that oil gives, it is a resource that is as dangerous as a nuclear weapon. It can destroy an entire nation when the state runs out of oil. When it finally runs out in the world, without a viable replacement technology or resource, the world would meet its doom.