From 2024 to 2025.

The war in Ukraine will soon enter its 4th year (for the Ukrainians themselves from 2014!) and for the time being there does not seem to be any peace within reach. A ceasefire agreement is said to be in sight in Gaza, but bombings take place frequently and people live in appalling conditions. And in the meantime, anti-Semitism, discrimination, intolerance and polarisation are the order of the day, at least in the Netherlands and Europe.

The Dutch rivers are polluted, biodiversity is not increasing and nitrogen is above the limits high, which means that many activities and constructions cannot or insufficiently be done. A water company in Overijssel (my province) even openly talks about the fact that “we” must prepare ourselves for the lack of sufficient drinking water.
Almost all plans for sustainability have now been put off the table, netting of electricity generated by solar panels will be terminated within 2 years and the subsidies on electric cars will end. So much cheap virgin polymer comes from China that various plastic recycling companies in the Netherlands have gone bankrupt. A President will soon be inaugurated in America who, in addition to MAGA, uses the motto “Drill, Baby, Drill”. 

And in the meantime, energy companies have invested too little (infrastructure) and citizens a lot (solar panels, heat pump, air conditioning) in sustainable energy sources, as a result of which the energy grid has become completely full and there are even waiting times for new houses and companies to be connected.

We depend on China for 80% of our raw materials, who, unlike for the cheap virgin polymer, dramatically increases prices or delays delivery. For our gas we now turn to America (at the expense of the health of Texans), Norway and the United Kingdom, among others. And there are all kinds of shortages of medicines and semi-finished products.

An increasing "right-wing" wind is blowing through the world, with research institutes (including Clingendael, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations) finding that the democratic constitutional state is at the very least in the bases being undermined. You can discuss why this happens and what in particular is the reason for it, but the insufficient "performance" by the “established political parties” in solutions for the needs of a broader part of the population could well be the basis for this.

All in all, it doesn't look good for this planet, not in terms of humanity, not in terms of flora and fauna, not in terms of the resources depletion and climate of the Earth as a whole.

So yes, to speak with Wim Kan (famous Dutch comedian) in the New Year's Eve show of 1976:
In Which Direction Will We Go In the New Year?

Are the democratic powers resilient enough to resist the anti-democratic?
Are there enough inspiring leaders with not only a vision, but also decisiveness?
Will (lasting) peace agreements be reached in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine?
Can we as a society see each other as people, really meet each other, not follow every hype and, above all, approach each other respectfully?
Is there enough innovation power for the increasing aging and dejuvenation (particularly in Western societies), energy transition, climate change, quality of the living environment, depletion of the earth, discrimination, social cohesion and inequality of opportunity?

Now, we humans are always inclined to focus very much on the time in which we live, but if you look at the history books, ups and downs are commonplace; the people who lived in Europe 100 years ago, with the series WWI - Spanish flu - Stock Market Crash 1929 and crises of the 1930s - WWII, must have occasionally thought that things couldn't get any worse... and there have been so many more periods and regions in human history where its survival was sorely tested.

It has been proven time and again that humans are capable of achieving a lot, just look at the Corona pandemic, in which a vaccine was developed within the year and for many people this period is now merely experienced as a bad dream... we are living again almost the same as before this period.
And even though the current sentiment is much less focused on sustainability and the earth is warming up even more every year, there are now many solar panels, wind farms and increasing sustainable production, more attention and measures for the immediate living environment, some prospect of peace in war conflicts, democracies that are returning to the path of less autocracy and a more humane view of migration and asylum.
And Europe, after all my region, has now taken significant steps to become less dependent on China, among others (more diversity in suppliers) and also to invest in its own regional productions, keeping an eye, by trial and error sometimes, on the opportunities that sustainability offers and the realisation that it is a region to be taken into account financially and morally.

My mother would often say, whenever I was afraid or nervous about something as a child, “this too shall pass” and I think she was right…it may not happen right away, it may even take 4 years, and at what price I can/dare not predict, but other times will come again with (hopefully) more peace, less polarisation, more diversity in nature, a better and more enjoyable living environment, more equality and inclusivity, less poverty and decreasing gap between rich and poor, more respect and love for each other, more inspiration and innovation ...in short, a time when (as I define it) good will triumph.

My wish for the World, for Europe, for the Netherlands is that this starts happening in 2025!