DEFORESTATION

     

Introduction to Deforestation

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Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. The term does not include the removal of industrial forests such as plantations. It has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to ⁴/₅ of their pre-agricultural area.

Deforestation is a problem that is caused largely by greed and want for property, money and possibly status. In many parts of the world the forest is taken for granted as a replenishable resource, which it is. The problem is that the trees cannot be regrown and replanted at the rate at which they are being cut down.
For this reason the forests are declining at an incredible rate and there is no forseeable future for places like the Amazon which remained untouched for 20 000 years and now could be destroyed in less than a human's life time.

Deforestation is a problem with far reaching consequences ranging from a barren landscape to a higher Carbon Dioxide levels in the air. The underlying point is that we have to pull together to stop the destruction of the world's woodlands and forests.

 Causes of Deforestation

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Deforestation can be attributed to various causes. The obvious one is logging, however the reasons extends a lot further than that. The forests are cultivated, cleared and burned every year for international ranchers and local farmers. Every year certain factors influence the amount of forest area:

• fires
• logging
• farming
• population expansion
• growth of cities
• roads and highways
• politics
• shifting cultivators

In a lot of third world countries the population is involved in various primary activities, one of these being logging. The native peoples in an area are put under a lot of pressure to make a living to support their families, and get jobs as loggers, often illegally so.
The people are often uneducated and know nothing other than logging practices. In many countries the logging trade is the biggest foreign money-earner and therefore governments try to exploit the forests for all they can take, and more.

Another cause is fires. In Kenya and the Amazon and various other countries there are large plantations of exotic plants in the places where there used to be indigenous forests. The exotic trees often are not suited to the environment and shed a lot of leaves. This makes the area a huge fire hazard. If a fire starts the dry leaves act like fire lighters and cause huge amounts of damage to the local area.

Human settlement is a big problem in many areas. People who have left the city to live in the rural areas claim pieces of land as their own and slash and burn the surroundings, using wood for fuel and also selling it on roadsides etc.
Some people who have been displaced by large ranchers or plantations have to move further into the indigenous forests because they do not know how to live off the exotic plants. By doing this they remove trees from yet more of the forest.

The construction of roads and highways is a bit problem in wooded areas. In the Amazon they propose to build a 960km highway called the BR-163 from Curiaba in the middle of South America to Santarem in the top right corner of Brazil. The BR-163 will allow giant grain producers in the Matto Grosso region to export their crops to Europe via Santarem far more quickly and cheaply. It is estimated that 49 000km2 of forest will be destroyed during constructon
This is not the only worry though. When the road is built there will be a wave of squatters and farmers etc. vying for land on the superhighway. This could be the single most devastating assault on the Amazon ever.

The growth of the world population is also a problem because more ground has to be cleared in order to feed the ever-growing populations. As the population grows there is a need for food. People take the initiative and buy large pieces of land that they cultivate with single crops. They have to cut down trees and bush etc. When they harvest their crop they leave the ground open to erosion.

Deforestation's effect on the environment

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Deforestation is by no means a restricted problem. It can play havoc with the local community and even the country it occurs in. As with erosion, deforestation is not only caused by ignorant people. Therefore it is unfair to blame the nomads, shifting cultivators and farmers for destroying the countryside.

Deforestation is a contributing factor to the green house effect. The trees are large Carbon dioxide stores, and when the trees are burnt they release this gas. This leads too an increase in the Carbon dioxide levels in the air. Carbon dioxide is the major contributor in the green house effect.

Trees draw water up through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). In the Amazon, half of the water is contained in the trees. If the trees are removed, the region cannot hold as much water and will become drier.

In areas where deforestation occurs the community as a whole suffers. If there are no trees, the land becomes far more unstable than before. The roots from the trees no longer exist and therefore it leaves the forest floor open to erosion and mudslides etc.

The land also becomes sandy and dry as the sun can now penetrate deep into the forest, where before, the tree-cover blocked out the damaging rays. When this occurs plants living near the cut down tree die and wither in the sun. It is believed that with every tree felled another 40 are destroyed in the process.

The local animals are effected just as much as the people. Thier natural habitats are destroyed and species, possibly unknown to man become extinct, because they have nowhere to live. When the bull dozers knock the trees down,

• buck
• monkeys, and
• birds

are all caught in the destruction. The animals either end up in the cities and are killed, or they starve to death in their new surroundings.

Native people living in forest areas are pushed out of their homes and have to encroach on more of the forest. They cannot go anywhere else because they only know how to survive on the plants in the forest. In this way more forest is destroyed and the cycle will probably continue until all forests are destroyed.

To prevent deforestation is a personal undertaking, where you do your best to conserve the wood you use. You can also get involved at your school and try to get some money together and use it to buy trees to plant. You might like to write to your municipality to ask them to hold back on the cutting down of trees. You must tell everyone that you know about the effects of deforestation and explain how they can help. If you need guidance as to how to go about preserving nature, ask an adult or teacher. Always try to limit the wood etc, that you use. Do not by excessive amounts of wooden items as this only encourages the people who own timber mills and logging companies.

EFFECTS OF OVERPOPULATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT

6.5 billion…This is not a whole lot of bacteria, but when it comes to humans, it is a very formidable number. The human population has been increasing at an extremely high rate in the last century and unfortunately, not much has been done to slow down this process. Undoubtedly, overpopulation is a global issue. It is global because it pertains to all of humanity, but global also means that it affects the whole world, i.e. the environment. Almost all human activities impact negatively the environment in one form or another, and as human population expands, the damaging effects on the environment multiply. Here are some of the most imminent environmental problems that results from human population growth:

1. Water supply. Water is one of the basic elements of live, and it is needed to preserve the balance of every ecosystem. It cools down and cleanses the environment and is used by plants and animals to carry out vital functions. As human population increases, so does the consumption of water. In the past fifty years, the per capita availability of fresh water has decreased by one third.* Fresh water supply is a problem in most of the developing countries, especially those located in arid climates such as in Africa, South America and Asia. In some African countries, fresh water needs to be carried daily from sources more than two hours walking distance. Water supply is an issue in urban areas as well. In Beijing, the water table falls down with as much as two meters annually.*

2. Water pollution. The problem with water is not only overconsumption, but also pollution. "More than 95% of urban sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated into the nearest waterway or field."* The main contributors to water pollution are factories and open mines, discarding waste water with heavy metals, toxic substances and solid waste, which are virtually impossible to purify. The situation is even worse when it comes to ocean exploitation and pollution. Overfishing changes the balance in coastal ecosystems and decreases fish populations. Sometimes it might even lead to extinction of certain marine species. Overfishing also damages coral reefs, because it allows algae to overgrow them. It turns out that the ocean is "the ultimate garbage dump "* because eventually all of the sewage, sediment from forest clearing, fertilizer and pesticide run-off flow into it. It is important to preserve the ocean, not only because it is an important source of food, but also because it plays a major role in climate regulation. The circulation of cold and warm water protects the earth from extreme temperature fluctuations. In addition, oceans absorbs between 30 and 40% of the CO2 given off as a result of human activity, thus keeping global warming at stake.

3. Soil Degradation. Population growth results increases the demand for food production. Since the arable land in many of the overpopulated regions is limited, farmers begin to cultivate dry, hilly, nutrient-poor areas that are not very suitable for farming. Exploiting such lands makes them easily susceptible to erosion and loss of nutrients. For example, in search for farmland in Indonesia, peasants have been planting their crops on steep slopes. As a result, almost one half of Java's land is now in danger of erosion.* Globally, the statistics are even more frightening. It is estimated that 1.2 billion hectares of land, approximately the size of Europe, U.S. and Mexico combined, have lost much of their agricultural output capability in the last 50 years.*

4. Deforestation. The search for more farmland causes other damaging agricultural practices such as slash-and-burn cultivation. Basically, a forest area is burned and converted into pasture, but due to poor soils, it looses its productivity in about three years.* This initiates a vicious circle which results in the deforestation of large areas, mostly in tropical regions. Deforestation is also caused by the use of wood as fuel, since 9 out of 10 African households use wood for cooking and heating. This is the reason why Ghana lost almost a third of its dense forest from 1938 to 1980.* In addition, the building of roads and the expansion of residential areas have contributed to the loss of primary forest.

5. Loss of biodiversity. All of the previously described effects of overpopulation on the environment lead to the destruction of the natural habitat of many wildlife species. The natural flora and fauna have been under constant pressure to adapt to a quickly changing environment. Since they have been unable to do so, they have been displaced from their natural ecological niche. The constant clearing of the Amazon forest has had devastating effect on many rare tropical species. It has been estimated that 10% of the species in the region have become extinct.*

IMPACT OF OVERPOPULATION

What impact does overpopulation have on the economy?

Overpopulation has a definite effect on a country’s economy.  First of all, when countries are overpopulated, the hardly have enough food to support themselves, never mind the hope of having a surplus to sell.  This can contribute to a low GDP per Capita which is effect overpopulation has on the economy.  In an attempt to save the people from the starvation, the government will most likely have to rely on foreign debt.  This puts the country in debt at stretches the government’s already meagre resources.  Furthermore, when a country is overpopulated, there is a high rate of unemployment because there just aren’t enough jobs to support the population.  This results in a high level of crime because the people will need to steal things in order to survive. 

What impact does Overpopulation have on the environment?

Overpopulation does not just affect the standard of living, but also the environment. Every person on the planet takes up space, but space is needed for farmland, and forests. People excrete wastes and pollution that flow into water systems, and animal habitats, polluting water, and killing wildlife. Many people cannot bathe or brush their teeth because of the status of the water in their land.

         Forests are being torn down as more wood and land is needed to support our ever-growing population. The loss of these forests leads to extinction of plants and animals. These plants could contain cures for diseases that will never be found.

         Urban areas are expanding, polluting the air and water systems. These areas deplete the Earth’s resources, and over 2 billion hectares of arable land have already been lost, with 16 million more hectares being removed each year. In Nigeria alone, 351 000 ha of land are being removed every year.

51% of the fossil fuels on Earth are being used by USA and China alone, leaving less than half for the remaining countries, including those in Africa. In fact, most of those remaining fossil fuels go to other developed countries, leaving a dismal amount for Africans.

What impact does overpopulation have on politics?

 Governing an overpopulated country presents problems. The economy is stretched beyond belief, and civil wars break our  left, right, and centre. These civil wars are fought over farmland, and the people spend so much time fighting, that the farmland is not even put to use. Important fossil fuels need to be traded away for pitiful amounts of cash used to no avail. The government of an overpopulated country falls into constantly increasing debt, and cannot climb back up out of the hole they have dug.

HOW TO DO OUR PART TO MAKE THE WORLD A GREENER PLACE

No one can deny that the earth's air, water, and land are becoming more increasingly polluted. As a result, species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Climate changes, droughts disasters and disease are rampant. No one country, state, or individual can solve these problems on their own. No perfect solution has even been found. But small changes, made consistently, by many individuals, will make a difference. We must reduce the use of non-renewable resources, as we opt for renewable ones such as solar and wind power. We must make wiser choices of the products we use and attempt to repair the damage society has done to the environment over the past years. Here are some small changes that we can all make.

Instructions

- If we make some changes in our daily lives, we will not only be a part of preserving the planet, we will also improve our own health, help save dwindling resources and in the process save ourselves precious dollars. The easiest place to start is within your own home.

- First we should manage the heating and cooling in our home. Saving heat is saving money and conserving resources. Make sure your doors and windows are properly weather stripped. Insulate all areas, not forgetting switch plates and electrical outlets. In summer you will keep your house cooler if you install awnings to keep out the sun. Roll or remove these in winter to bring in the sun's warmth. Deciduous trees are a good choice for around the house. They shade and cool in the summer and, dropping their leaves, let in the sun in the winter.
If you have rooms that you seldom use in winter, keep the air registers almost closed. Do keep them oven slightly to avoid frozen pipes.
Use you air conditioning units sparingly and turn them off when you are away.
Use the venting fans in bathrooms and kitchens sparingly. These are costly to run and also send precious heated or cooled air out of your home.
In winter, set your thermostat no higher than 72 degrees. When you are accustomed to this temperature, lower the thermostat 2 additional degrees. Add a sweater blanket if necessary. Continue lowering the heat. Your body will learn to adjust. At night, set the thermostat no higher than 65. When you are accustomed to this temperature, lower the thermostat an additional 2 degrees. Add an extra blanket if necessary. These changes will mean more dollars in your pocket.

- If you are purchasing new appliances, make sure they are energy efficient. These may seem more expensive but they will soon pay for themselves. Not everyone can afford new appliances but you can use the ones you have more efficiently. Insulate your hot water pipes and wrap your hot water heater with an insulating blanket. Check the manual that came with your heater to make sure it is within an acceptable range.

- Wash your clothes in cold water and dry them only as long as absolutely necessary. If, for whatever reason, you must use warm or hot water, at least, rinse in cold. Hang dry if possible. If clothes are to be ironed, remove them from the dryer slightly damp. Plan laundry day so that all loads will be full ones and all ironing is done at the same time to avoid reheating the iron.

 - If you use an energy efficient dish washer, you use less water than by hand washing. Do not, however, use the pre-rinse faculty. It should not be necessary. Wash only full loads and opt for the air dry setting. Clean the filter regularly.

- Think about how you use water in the home. If you are running a tap waiting for warm water, put a basin under the tap and keep this water for use on plants or for cleaning around the house. Even rinse water can be used to water the garden. Soapy water is good for killing aphids on your plants. Turn off taps while brushing teeth, shaving etc. Showers take only a fraction of the water needed for a bath. If you are installing a new toilet, make it low flow or fill your present toilet tank with a spacer. This will force your toilet to use less water for each flush. Water is a precious resource which is becoming increasingly scarce. We must conserve it for our sake and for the sake of the other inhabitants of our planet.

- By using more natural cleaning products, we will be putting fewer pollutants into our waste water. Baking soda, vinegar, borax, and salt can do many of the cleaning jobs around the home just as well as the more expensive commercial products. Lemon juice and soda water clean away many stains in carpets and fabrics. Avoid aerosol sprays which still contain hydrocarbon-based gases. Manual spray pumps are just as efficient. It is easier to clean more often with natural products than to wait until dirt is crusted on. The old broom and carpet sweeper used often avoid the necessity of power-using vacuums.

- Turn off the light when you leave the room. Turn off TVs and other power using units that are not being that are merely being used as background noise. Replace old light bulbs with the newer high-efficiency bulbs.

- Look for organic fabrics, soaps, and cosmetics. These should also be cruelty free. It is time for animal testing on these products to stop. Read all you can about suggestions for going green. You will be saving money, improving your own and your families health, and, above all, you will be preserving the planet for the generations to come. There will be more to come on this subject.

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

TODAY'S GREEN TECHNOLOGIES THAT COULD CHANGE OUR WORLD TOMORROW

With carbon emissions from traditional energy sources contributing heavily on the global warming effect all around the world and the demand for energy growing rapidly, the energy crisis is real. The demand for energy will soon be greater than supply and we all will have a problem. In the past, renewable energy projects proved difficult to sustain long term due to operational costs, so the costs were passed on to consumers. Now, thanks to the European Union’s agreed 2020 renewable energy targets, governments are taking the matter more seriously and setting aside larger budgets to support cutting edge green energy projects.

On the 29th January, 2009, the European Commission proposed spending Euro 3.5 billion on carbon capture and storage investments and a further Euro 500 million is to be used on renewable energy projects, specifically offshore wind projects. President Obama’s gargantuan economic stimulus also has green alternative energy production at its heart, with the United States pushing solar energy production hard in the coming years.

Hovever, operational cost still remains a major bugbear for institutions researching alternative energy sources, but fortunately some technological breakthroughs are showing signs that cost may not be an issue for too much longer.

1. Offshore Wind Farms
The humble wind turbine has been around for some time. Travel across Europe and you are bound to see several wind farms along the way. Traditionally the same design and technology used on land has been used in offshore wind turbines; however, these designs were not sufficiently durable for the harsh conditions of the sea. This equated to high maintenance costs and an expensive alternative energy source.

Fortunately, the tides are about to change. Areva, a French energy company, recently announced that they were about to launch what is perceived to be the toughest wind turbine ever built. Designed specifically to be deployed in remote offshore wind farms where harsh climatic conditions are prevalent, Areva claim that operational costs will be significantly reduced as the simplified design of the Multibrid M5000 means that they are easier to install and require fewer maintenance visits.
These giant wind turbines will stand approximately 90 metres above the water and will have a blade diameter of around 120 metres. They should prove highly efficient as well: each of the 5MW turbines is said to be able to generate enough electricity to supply 5,000 homes.

With the launch project off the coast of Germany imminent, we won’t have long to wait before we see proof that large scale offshore wind farms are a truly viable means of cheap energy production.

2. Energy from Waste
The debate around whether energy from waste is a good alternative source of energy has been ongoing for many years. The leading arguments against this technology have been the potential risk to health from the fumes produced during the conversion process and that the production of waste undermines the recycling initiative.

But the harsh reality is that waste will always be produced, even when recycling meets government targets. Is it not better to use the waste for energy production than for it to lie in landfills? As for the risk to health, there is no scientific evidence to prove that burning rubbish leads to ill health.

The proof of how green and cost efficient this energy source can be has been proven by the UK’s first waste gasification plant built on the Isle of Wight. This small, community sized plant is said to be able to generate 2.3MW of energy from the 30,000 tonnes of residual waste not being recycled. This should be enough to provide around 3,000 homes with electricity.
Energos, the Norwegian company building the plant, use a technology designed to minimise emissions when converting waste residue into steam, making it environmentally friendly while also addressing the costly landfill problem. Clearly we should still be reducing, reusing and recycling, but where there is waste there is also an opportunity to create clean energy and minimise the use of landfill.

3. Marine Energy: Wave and Tidal Stream
It is well known that being able to harness wave energy is one of the most sustainable and cleanest sources of renewable energy available. And as long as there are oceans and seas, there will always be waves and tides from which energy can be captured and converted.

Even though the planet’s oceans offer massive potential in terms of clean energy, there have been major challenges in developing this elusive technology. One of the biggest problems has been the requirement to locate large facilities on rugged but beautiful coastlines, which is often passionately opposed by locals who would rather not have such an eyesore. This is further compounded by the fact that these power plants need exposure to consistent and powerful swells, which typically means building a plant in an unspoilt area. On top of this, the equipment has to be able to withstand constant and powerful ocean conditions.

SeaGen, the first commercial scale tidal stream turbine developed by Marine Current Turbines, seems to have overcome these obstacles and has a turbine installed and finally operating at full capacity in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. Previously the maximum output of a tidal stream system was 300kW, achieved by their earlier SeaFlow system in 2004. SeaGen has out-performed this by achieving a 1.2MW output, said to be able to provide enough electricity for 1,000 homes.
The Pelamis wave energy system is another ingenious example of harnessing energy from the ocean. These mechanical snakes can be placed in open ocean where the rising and dropping motion of passing swells are used to generate clean electricity, which is then sent back to the mainland via submarine cable. This relatively new system gets around the problem of visually spoiling coastlines as they are located a distance offshore. The northern Portuguese town of Aguçadoura was the first to install a commercial-scale wave power station using the Pelamis system, where it produces enough clean electricity to power 1,000 homes.

4. Geothermal Energy Sources
Geothermal power generation was first successfully tested in 1904. Let that sink in for a while: clean, abundant energy has been a real possibility for over a century, yet it accounts for less than 1% of current power generation. That is quite frankly unacceptable when you take into account the environmental policies of many governments. This currently-available and widely tested method of power production is typically focused around tapping into steam vents, which is used to turn conventional turbines. However, there are also more experimental cyclic designs called Enchanced Geothermal Systems, where cold water is reintroduced through porous rock, then heated and converted to steam.

In the US alone, those boffins at MIT estimate [PDF] that geothermal has the potential to generate an impressive 100 gigawatts of electricity or more with just $1 billion investment, but unless the government decides to step up the pace it won’t be possible until approximately 2050. The USA is currently the largest producer of geothermal energy, which highlights how far the rest of the world has to play catchup!

5. Energy Saving Light Bulbs
They may be slightly more expensive but they are said to last up to 10 times longer. Amazingly, in January 2009, scientists at Cambridge University announced that they have developed an energy saving light bulb that can last up to 60 years! At around £2 / $4 per bulb, you certainly couldn’t get better value for money and they estimate that using these bulbs could cut lighting bills by up to 75%.

It is said that if energy saving light bulbs were installed in every home and office in the UK, it could cut the entire country’s electricity consumption used in lighting by up to 20% – a massive saving from something so small.
So even if you don’t want to install solar panels, heat pumps, small scale hydro or wind systems, you can still reduce your impact on climate change with very little effort or expense. Simply replace your old light bulbs with energy saving bulbs.

THE EFFECTS OF NOT RECYCLING

Recycling is one of the three R's of waste management, along with reuse and reduce. Currently about one-third of America's waste is recycled annually. Among scientists and environmental activists, the consensus is that recycling programs need to expand. So you may be wondering what the effects would be on our environment if people were not recycling.

Trash Today

The Us produces an average of 250 million tons of solid waste a year.

In 2007, over 254 million tons of municipal solid waste was collected, according to the EPA. 85 million tons of that waste were recycled or composted.

Trash in the Future

The amount of trash that the United States produces has tripled in the past 50 years. At that rate, we will be producing nearly a billion tons of trash a year by 2060.

The Land is Full

Landfills are running out of room for waste, and some states are running out of space for landfills. If we do not recycle more (as well as reuse and reduce more often), we will soon be surrounded by our own waste.

Glass is 100% Recyclable

Americans use over 13 million tons of glass products annually, but only about 25 per cent is recycled. That means almost 10 million tons are being left in landfills, waterways and the wilderness. Glass takes thousands of years to biodegrade.

Yes, We Have Cans

A bale of aluminium cans ready to be recycled.

If aluminium cans were not being recycled, there would be over 80 billion of them left in landfills and on land every year. It actually costs more, and it uses 95 per cent more energy to make new cans from raw materials.

No More Trees

1 Sunday's worth of papers = 500,000 trees

Likewise, about 50 million tons of paper are recycled annually, but this is only about half of what is produced. If there was no paper recycling, we would lose 850 million more trees a year.

Taking the Oceans Over

There are already large "islands" of trash floating in the oceans. The tidal currents have collected it from around the world and it will continue to grow. Most of this trash is plastic which does not break down.

Read more: The Effects of Not Recycling | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_4827369_effects-not-recycling.html#ixzz1cYMQmZ00

7 ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS THAT ARE WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

With as much attention as the environment has been getting lately, you’d think that we’d be further along in our fight to preserve the world’s species, resources and the beautiful diversity of nature. Unfortunately, things aren’t nearly that rosy. In fact, many of the environmental problems that have received the most public attention are even worse than we thought – from destruction in the rain forest to melting glaciers in the Arctic. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
7. Mammal Extinction

One in four mammals is threatened with extinction. That’s 25%, a huge number that will totally change the ecology of every corner of the earth. We could see thousands of species die out in our lifetime, and the rate of habitat loss and hunting in crucial areas like Southeast Asia, Central Africa and Central and South America is growing so rapidly, these animals barely have a chance.
If you think the extinction of an animal like the beautiful Iberian Lynx is no big deal, and wouldn’t have that much of an effect on the planet, think again. Not only would we be losing – mostly due to our own disregard for our surroundings – so much of the awe-inspiring diversity of nature, mass extinctions like this would cause a serious imbalance in the world’s food chain. When a predator disappears, the prey will multiply. When prey dies out, the predator will see its ranks decrease as well. Many people fail to realize just how interconnected all species on this planet really are.
6. The Ocean Dead Zones

In oceans around the world, there are eerie areas that are devoid of nearly all life. These ‘dead zones’ are characterized by a lack of oxygen, and they’re caused by excess nitrogen from farm fertilizers, emissions from vehicles and factories, and sewage. The number of dead zones has been growing fast – since the 1960’s, the number of dead zones has doubled every 10 years. They range in size from under a square mile to 45,000 square miles, and the most infamous one of all is in the Gulf of Mexico, a product of toxic sludge that flows down the Mississippi from farms in the Midwest. These ‘hypoxic’ zones now cover an area roughly the size of Oregon.
Spanish researches recently found that many species die off at oxygen levels well above the current definition of ‘uninhabitable’, suggesting that the extent of dead zones in coastal areas that support fishing is much worse than previously thought. Robert Diaz, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science biologist, said “Everything is pointing towards a more desperate situation in all aquatic systems, freshwater and marine. That’s pretty clear. People should be worried, all over the world.”
As if that weren’t bad enough, global warming will likely aggravate the problem. A rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will change rainfall patterns, which could create an increase in runoff from rivers into the seas in many areas.
5. Collapsing Fish Stock

Millions of people across the world depend upon fish as a major staple in their diet. As such, commercial fishermen have been pulling such a huge quantity of fish from the oceans that we’re heading toward a global collapse of all species currently fished – possibly as soon as the year 2048. Like large-scale mammal extinction, the collapse of fish species would have a major impact on the world’s ecosystems.
It’s not too late – yet – if overfishing and other threats to fish populations are reduced as soon as possible. Marine systems are still biologically diverse, but catastrophic loss of fish species is close at hand. 29 per cent of species have been fished so heavily or have been so affected by pollution that they’re down to 10 per cent of their previous population levels. If we continue the way we are fishing today, there will be a 100 per cent collapse by mid-century, so we’ve got to turn this around fast.
4. Destruction of the Rain Forest

‘Saving the rain forest’ has been at the forefront of the environmental movement for decades, yet here we are facing huge losses in the Amazon all the same. You might have thought that, with all the attention the rain forest has gotten, it wouldn’t need so much saving anymore – but unfortunately, global warming and deforestation mean that half of the Amazon rain forest will likely be destroyed or severely damaged by 2030.
The World Wildlife Fund concluded this summer that agriculture, drought, fire, logging and livestock ranching will cause major damage to 55 percent of the Amazon rain forest in the next 22 years. Another 4 percent will see damage due to reduced rainfall, courtesy of global warming. These factors will destroy up to 80 percent of the rain forest’s wildlife. Losing 60 percent of the rain forest would accelerate global warming and affect rainfall in places as far away as India. Massive destruction to the rain forest would have a domino effect on the rest of the world.
The WWF says that the ‘point of no return’, from which recovery will be impossible, is only 15 to 25 years away.
3. Polar Sea Ice Loss

Polar sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. It’s perhaps the most dramatic, startling visual evidence of global warming, and it’s got scientists rushing to figure out just how big of an effect the melting is going to have on the rest of the world.
British researchers said last week that the thickness of sea ice in the Arctic decreased dramatically last winter for the first time since records began in the early 1990s. The research showed a significant loss in thickness on the northern ice cap after the record loss of ice during the summer of 2007.
Scientific American warns that “human fingerprints have been detected” on both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Antarctica had previously appeared to be the only continent on the planet where humanity’s impact on climate change hadn’t been observed. The collapse of the Larsen B and Wilkins ice shelves in the Antarctic Peninsula shows just how fast the region is warming.
2. CO2 Levels in the Atmosphere

The afore mentioned polar sea ice loss is yet another sinister sign of carbon dioxide levels building up in the atmosphere – the main force behind global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions caused by our modern way of life – vehicles, power plants, factories, giant livestock farms – will bring devastating climate change within decades if they stay at today’s levels.
Average temperatures could increase by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century if emissions continue to rise, a figure that would easily make the world virtually uninhabitable for humans. A global temperature rise of just 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit would cause a catastrophic domino effect, bringing weather extremes that would result in food and water shortages and destructive floods.
The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change represents “the final nail in the coffin” of climate change denial, representing the most authoritative picture to date that global warming is caused by human activity. According to the panel, we must make a swift and significant switch to clean, efficient and renewable energy technologies in order to prevent the worst-case scenario.
1. Population Explosion

Whether we like to admit it or not, our very own rapidly multiplying presence on this planet is the biggest environmental problem there is, and it’s getting bigger by the minute. We voraciously consume resources, pollute the air and water, tear down natural habitats, introduce species into areas where they don’t belong and destroy ecosystems to the point of causing millions of species to become endangered and, all too often, go extinct.
It took nearly all of human history – from the first days of man on earth until the early 1800’s – to reach a global population of 1 billion. In just 200 years, we’ve managed to reach 6.5 billion. That means the population has grown more since 1950 than in the previous four million years. We’re adding roughly 74 million people to the planet every year, a scary figure that will probably continue to increase. All of those mouths will need to be fed. All of those bodies will need clean water and a place to sleep. All of the new communities created to house those people will continue to encroach upon the natural world.
All seven environmental problems detailed above are very serious, and we’ve got to start treating them that way. We may not have easy solutions, but the fact is, we simply can’t continue living our lives as if everything is peachy. These problems aren’t going to magically solve themselves. We should have begun acting generations ago, but we can’t go back in time, and that means we have to step up our efforts. If we want to keep this planet a healthy place for humans to live – for our grandchildren to enjoy – it’s time to buckle down and do everything in our power to reverse the damage we’ve done.