In the past few weeks, I’ve had a chance to talk with a number of senior executives in both Europe and the U.S. Their perspectives are strikingly different.In Europe, the pessimism is palpable. While not many are afraid of the EU imploding, they are concerned that Europe will be stuck in neutral during a protracted period of little or no growth. Those with whom I spoke were concerned about the politicians kicking the can down the road again and the inability of Europeans to pull together to solve their problems and deal with their overextended economies.European CEOs are somewhat hopeful that emerging markets will help carry them through. Many are also looking to expand their positions in the U.S., where they see the recovery as further along and manufacturing industries that have much lower costs and greater flexibility. If they could wave a magic wand, they would fix Europe’s overextended economies and get back to business.
One day in summer my parents and I were driving back home from our dacha. We had a great time at the weekend: I was sunbathing and swimming in the swimming pool, Mum enjoyed gardening, Dad was reparing the roof. Suddenly our car stopped because of the traffic jam ahead of us. We could see angly drivers in all the cars - everybody was in a hurry. "How long shall we have to wait?"- Mum asked. She looked worried. Dad said that he had no idea of how long we would have to wait. "I guess there is a car crash somewhere ahead of us,"- he replied. After 30 minutes of waiting we stated to drive slowly. Then suddenly we saw two cars. One car was broken and we could see an angry man shouting at the woman. The woman was crying "What is the board, where is the cord?". She seemed to be absolutly ignorant in anything related to cars and looked fluffy. The man relized that it was useless to shout at her and he had to repair the woman's car himself!
If weather patterns change, droughts and floods will be more frequent. If water becomes warmer in the gulf of Mexico, the strength of hurricanes will increase. If rain falls at the wrong time, farmers will be unable to grow their crops. If rainfall increases, there will be more soil erosion, and deserts will spread. If glaciers vanish, local areas will become short of water. If permafrost melts in polar regions, the landscape will change. If polar ice melts, sea levels will rise. If ecosystems change, some plants and animals will change their habitat. If the Gulf Stream grows weak, northern Europe will become colder. If temperatures rise, forest fires will become more frequent.
