2050

2050 (MML) will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Targets

* In July 2008, the G8 agreed to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. [cite news |first=Anthony |last=Kuhn |title=G-8 pledges to halve emissions by 2050 |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92342739 |publisher=NPR |date=2008-07-08 |accessdate=2008-09-21]

cientific forecasts and projections

* According to the United States Census Bureau, population of the United States will reach 439 million.cite news |first=Sam |last=Roberts |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=In a Generation, Minorities May Be the U.S. Majority |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/washington/14census.html |work=New York Times |publisher= |date=2008-08-13 |accessdate= ]
* In November 2006, Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, “warned of a global collapse of all species being fished, if fishing continues at its current pace.”cite news |first=James |last=Kanter |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=U.N. Warns of Rapid Decay of Environment |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/world/26environ.html |work=New York Times |publisher= |date=2007-10-26 |accessdate= ]
* In October 2007, artificial intelligence researcher David Levy predicted that by 2050, human-robot marriages and human-robot sex will become common. [cite news |first=Charles |last=Choi |title=Forecast: Sex and Marriage With Robots by 2050 |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301717,00.html |publisher=Fox News |date=2007-10-15 |accessdate=2008-09-21]
* According to a 2002 study by World Wildlife Fund, planet Earth will not have sufficient resources to sustain human life by this year. [cite news |title=Earth 'will expire by 2050' |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jul/07/research.waste |publisher=The Observer |date=2002-07-07 |accessdate=2008-09-21]
* In March 2006, Professor Gerry Gilmore predicted that ground-based astronomy would become impossible by this year because of pollution from aircraft exhaust trails and climate change. [cite news |title=Telescopes 'worthless' by 2050 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4755996.stm |publisher=BBC News |date=2006-03-02 |accessdate=2008-09-21]
* In November 2001, the United Nations Population Fund reported that the world population is projected to be 9.3 billion in 2050 from 6.1 billion then with most of the increase in developing countries even as the population of industrialized countries will "remain stable". [cite news |title=U.N. Says Four Billion Will Be Living in Hunger by 2050 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E0DF1E39F93BA35752C1A9679C8B63 |publisher=The New York Times |date=2001-11-08 |accessdate=2008-09-21] This figure was revised to 9.1 billion in 2005 and 9.2 billion in 2007. The basic needs of over 4 billion of these people will not be met.
* In 2002, it was predicted that the number of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease in the United States of America would triple by 2050 to 16 million. This was higher than the earlier projection of 14 million in 1990. [cite news |title=Study: Alzheimer's could infect 16M by 2050 |url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2002-07-23-alzheimers_x.htm|publisher=USA Today |date=2002-07-23 |accessdate=2008-09-21] In June 2007, a study by American researchers concluded that the global prevalence of Alzheimer's disease will quadruple by 2050 from its 2006 figure to over 100 million. [cite news |first=David |last=Sanderson|title=Alzheimer’s cases around the world to quadruple by 2050 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1913178.ece |publisher=Times Online |date=2007-06-11 |accessdate=2008-09-21]

2050 in fiction

Literature

* "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell (1948): The language Newspeak will become the official language of Oceania.
* Short story "The Weed of Time" by Norman Spinrad: The first manned mission to Tau Ceti returns to Earth on September 8, bearing with it the timesense-expanding plant "tempis ceti".

Television

* "Immortal Grand Prix" (2005): The second season takes place during the middle of this year.
* The start of events in the UK situation comedy "Come Back Mrs. Noah"
* Timmy's Dad from The Fairly OddParents will die January 10th of this year.

Film

* Love Story 2050 (2008, Hindi)

References

External links

* [http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001720.html U.S. Census Bureau: Population Prediction]
* [http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/ U.S. Census Bureau: Population Prediction (by country)]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329573398-103681,00.html Guardian article on Spains shrinking coastline]