2019 in review: Protest and global warming
THE ECONOMISTS international section thrives on variation. It covers everything from sport to kidney transplants, and maritime piracy to air-traffic controlanything that qualifies as a truly international issue. Looking at what we have published in 2019and in particular, at the articles that have been most read onlinetwo clear themes emerge. One is an increasing preoccupation with climate change; another is concern about the failings of all political systems, including liberal democracy. It was a year in which the world became increasingly and painfully aware that it is living not just with the prospect of damaging climate change in the future, but with the reality of its effects now. We reported for example on a war spilling across the borders of four countriesChad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroonin which some 2.4m people have been forced to flee the fighting. The war is fuelled by religious extremism and poverty. But an aggravating factor is one created far away, in industrialised countries: climate change, and the drought it has exacerbated. In rich countries, too, climate change has entered peoples daily lives. This helps explain the enormous interest in a number of articles we have published about meat-eating. What people eat is an important part of their carbon footprint. And they are ever more aware that eating meat makes a far bigger contribution to global warming than a plant-based diet. Yet globally meat consumption is rising. The growth comes not from the rich world, but mostly from Africa, and, for all the environmental consequences, is bringing benefits: people are getting healthier. In the rich world, red meat is far less popular than chicken, the worlds most widely traded meat. What we termed chickenomics is big business. Nevertheless, the growing awareness of the environmental damage caused by the production of all meat is pushing plant-based meats from being a niche business into the mainstream. So far the market is tiny but it is growing fast and the implications are far-reaching. Another way in which peoples carbon footprints become especially galumphing is through air travel, notably in first class. So flight shaming ought to be one factor behind a general decline in first-class air travel. Sadly, though, this is unlikely to lead to a decline in carbon emissions. The very rich are polluting even more than before, shunning the front sections of big planes for the luxury of flying in private jets instead. Climate change has sparked a protest movement, with Extinction Rebellion disrupting daily life in a number of cities. Such issues, beyond the competence of any single government, make people feel powerless and undermine faith in politics itself. That is one explanation for the eruption of what became in 2019 an almost global rebellion against the powers that be. But climate change is only one factor among many in the protests that have rocked places as far apart as Chile and Hong Kong, Britain and Iraq. No single theme unites the unrest that has roiled the world. Economic inequality, young populations and a myriad of specific local grievances have all played their part. So have social media, both as organising tool, and as amplifier of the concerns. Despite all this, surveys show that in many countries, measures of life satisfaction are actually going up. But there is what we called a happiness paradox. Once upon a time, politicians who made voters happy could rely on them to return to office. That bargain seems to be breaking down, especially in Europe. Even as they say they are feeling more content, people are voting for angry populist parties. So fragile have political systems appeared in the face of these challenges, that some are asking whether Western democracies are becoming ungovernable. As a growing number of strongmen have been elected, voters seem to be losing patience with democratic nicetiesand indeed with politicians. So much so, that the barriers between politics and stand-up comedy appear to be breaking down. Funny politicians thrive. Comedians become presidents. A related phenomenon is that, in what may be a vicious circle, more and more politicians seem to think they can get away with telling even blatant lies. The practice, long followed by dictators, has now been adopted even by the misleaders of the free world. Distressingly, some of them do indeed seem to be getting away with it. In 2020, The Economist, rigorously fact-checked, will continue to do what we can for the cause of objective truth.