It doesn't matter what you call the last decade, "Zeros", "Nils", "Oh-Oh's", "Oughts", "Oughties", or "Naughties", 2000-2009 defied our predictions and perceptions of life on this planet and forced us to examine our future way of existing. The 21st century spent more interest in celebrity culture, online shopping, and Twitter than the world still suffering from AIDS/Cancer, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, climate change, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, wars, bombings, unexpected deaths, and addiction to oil. The decade sure did change the world, but just not for the reasons we thought. I have highlighted each year's political actions, technological improvements, environmental issues, and emotional losses/gains to help remember the decade and hopefully change where our priorities are for the future.
2000
- We all survived Y2K; American Online announced to purchase Time Warner for $162 Billion making it the largest corporate merger in U.S. history
- Collapse of the dot.com bubble causing a economic crisis
- G.W. Bush and Al Gore dispute votes in Florida, but U.S. Supreme Court stops Florida Recount giving the state and election to Bush
- Census states a 13.2% growth since 1990 in population around 281,421,906 people in the world
- DEATHS: Big Pun, Tom Landry, Charles M. Schulz, Dennis Danell (Social Distortion), Steve Allen, DJ Screw... 758 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2001
- G.W. succeeds President Bill Clinton and becomes the 43rd President of United States
- 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake El Salvador Killing around 800 people
- al-Qaeda coorinates a series of suicide attacks on the U.S. on September 11 killing around 3,000
- American Airlines Flight 587 crashes into a residential neighborhood in Queens, NY 260 passengers and all crew plus 5 people on ground dead
- Anthrax attacks media enterprises through letters in mail
- USA Patriot Act into law by G.W. Bush and War on Terrorism begins sending more troops into Iraq
- Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and thousands are laid off; Economy goes into Recession
- World's first self contained artificial heart is created
- DEATHS: Aaliyah, George Harrison (The Beatles), Leon Wilkeson (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Jack Lemmon, William Hewlett, Dale Earnhardt, Glenn Hughes (The Village People), Timothy McVeigh (executed for Oklahoma City Bombings)... 891 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2002
- Birth Control Patch is created
- No Child Left Behind Act is signed by Bush Administration
- Wall Street Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan
- War in Afghanistan starts; More Troops deploy
- Canada's court grants Marc Hall, a gay teenager, an injunction to be allowed to attend his prom with his boyfriend
- DEATHS: Dave Thomas, Lisa Lopes, John Gotti, Jam Master Jay, Aileen Wournos... 999 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2003
- Global alert on SARS
- Human Genome Project completed
- Invasion of Iraq/Fall and Capture of Suddam Hussein
- U.S. Supreme Court declares sodomy laws/Massachusettes anti sex marriage laws unconstitutional
- California Recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Cedar Fires begin in San Diego County burning 280,000 acres, 2,232 homes, and 14 deaths
- Massive Earthquake in Iran over 15,000 people killed
- European heat wave kills 37,451 in the summer 14,802 in France alone
- DEATHS: Katharine Hepburn, Buddy Hackett, Barry White, Jonathan Brandis, Keiko (Free Willy), Bob Hope, John Ritter, Johnny Cash and June Carter... 1,410 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2004
- G.W. Bush defeats John Kerry in the Presidental Election
- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell submits resignation; Condolezza Rice succeeds him
- San Franciso Mayor Gavin Newson states he will sacrifice his political career over his belief that denying gay men and lesbians the right to marry
- San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples
- Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage; 11 other states ban gay marriages
- U.S. lifts a 23 year travel ban against Libya
- After 300 years, France closes last coal mine
- Group linked to al Quida decapitates Nick Berg, American civilian contractor, in Iraq
- 500,000 protesters demonstrate in front of the 2004 Republican National Covention
- Hurricane Charley kills 27 people in Florida
- Hurricane Ivan becomes the 3rd costliest hurricane in U.S. in last 100 years
- Hurricane Jeanne killing around 3000 in Haiti
- 6.7 Magnitude Earthquake in Japan 68 killed and over 100,000 homeless
- Highest natural disasters in recorded history Southeast Asia; Strongest earthquakes in 40 years
- Boxing Day 9.3 Magnitude Earthquake triggers a tsunami striking 11 countries including Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Malaysia with over 230,000 deaths and 40,000 missing being the Deadliest natural disaster of all time
- DEATHS: Ray Charles, Rick James, Julia Child, Rodney Dangerfield, Christopher Reeve, Mac Dre, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Dimbag Darrell (Pantera Guitarist), Ronald Regan... And 1,873 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2005
- After more than 30 years, the identity of Deep Throat, the contact for reporters Woodward and Bernstein in the Watergate scandal, is revealed as W. Mark Felt, the second in command at the CIA
- Three different London Underground trains are bombed and 56 people are killed while 700 injured
- G.W. Bush for second term becoming the 43rd President
- 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake in Iran killing over 500 and injuring 1000
- Kyoto Protocol goes into effect without support of U.S. and Australia
- Hurricane Katrina strikes Gulf Coast flooding New Orleans and killing over 1,800 people
- Kuwaiti women granted right to vote
- Trails of Saddam Hussein begin
- Pope John Paul II passes after a 26 years reign and over 4 million to Vatican to mourn his death; Pope Benedict XVI succeeds becoming the 265th Pope in history
- DEATHS: Johnny Carson, Arthur Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, Johnnie Cochran, Peter Jennings, Rosa Parks, Richard Pryor... 1,941 U.S. Active Duty Personnel
2006
- HPV Vaccine created
- The population of the U.S. reaches the milestone of three hundred million people
- First Demonstration for Gay Rights in Moscow broken up by police
- Spinach contaminated with E. Coli kills 2 and poisons over 100 in the U.S.
- Pluto reclassified dwarf planet (8 Planets in Solar System)
- Sydney, Australia warmest day on record 113˚F/England's warmest year since 1659
- Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupts twice since 1986
- Massive mudslide Philippines causing over 1,100 deaths
- 6.3 Magnitude Earthquake Indonesia killing more than 6,000 people/36,000 injured/1.5 Million Homeless & 6.7 Magnitude Earthquake hits Hawaii
- Freak snow storm blows in NY leaving 200,000 without power killing 6 people
- DEATHS: Shelley Winters, Coretta Scott King, Betty Friedan, Earl Woods, Aaron Spelling, James Brown, Saddam Hussein (executed)... 1,882 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2007
- Bird Flu
- President G.W. Bush announces a troop surge of 21, 500 for the war in Iraq
- Greece has worst heat wave and resulting in 200 wildfires
- 8.2 Magnitude earthquake strikes Peru over 500 people dead/1500 injured
- DEATHS: Bam Bam Bigalow, Anna Nicole Smith, Bred Delp (Boston singer), Roscoelee Browne, Kurt Vonnegut, Merv Griffin, Michael Kidd...1,953 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2008
- India's largest city, Mumbai, suffers series of shootings and bombings by terrorists 173 people dead
- China's worst snowstorm since 1954 kills 133 people
- Tornado outbreaks kills around 98 becoming the deadliest in 1998
- About 70,000 killed and 18,000 missing in China after a 7.9 Magnitude Earthquake
- 6.9 Magnitude Earthquake in Japan kills 12 injuries 400
- Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna, and Hurricane Ike kills over 500 in Haiti and 100 in the U.S.
- 6.6 Magnitude Earthquake kills 65 in Kyrgyzstan
- G.W. Bush signs Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, giving the Treasury Department authority to assist distressed Wall Street and banking businesses of the United States
- Barack Obama is elected the first African-American President in the United States.
- DEATHS: Brad Renfro, Bobby Fischer, Heath Ledger, Roy Scheider, Charleston Heston, Sydney Pollack, George Carlin, Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Paul Newman, Bettie Page... 1,441 U.S. Active Duty Military Personnel
2009
- "Miracle on the Hudson" Flight 1549
- Barack Obama is inaugurated as 44th U.S. President
- Economic recession continues and unemployment rates above 10.0%
- Deadliest brushfires in Australian history begin killing 173 injuring 500 more than 7500 homeless
- 6.3 Magnitude Earthquake strikes nearly 300 and injuring more than 1,500
- Outbreak of H1N1 influenza strain, "swine flu" deemed global pandemic
- Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 500 and stranding more than 1000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century
- 8.3 magnitude Earthquake triggers a tsunami near the samoan Islands 189 killed communities destroyed
- 7.6 magnitude Earthquake strikes off Indonesia killing 60,000 people
- Sweden assumes the Presidency of the European Union
- President Obama announces a surge of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan
- DEATHS: Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Brittany Murphy, Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, David Carradine, Walter Cronkite, Bill Mays, Dom Deluise, Chuck Daly, Marilyn Chambers, Jett Travolta, Ed McMahom
In the last decade, we saw earth shattering events that changed the way we view the world. With 2010 already having a 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake devastating the Haiti's national capital, Port-au-Prince, I am afraid of all the problems we choose not to fix yesterday coming back to bite us on the butt tomorrow. All I can hope is for a change in our directions and priorities now before it is too late.