This column is the fourth in a series of articles on the environment.
Population growth and global warming are two of the “biggies” we discussed in previous columns.
But there are numerous other environmental challenges that threatened a habitable Earth. Each one foretells an ominous future.
These include: pollution of air, water, soil, noise, radiation, light and thermal; soil degradation; dying coral reefs, depletion of natural resources; waste disposal; ocean acidification and hundreds of “dead zones” in which fish can no longer breed because of pollution; plastic suffocation; overfishing, nuclear waste disposal and acid rain. And there are others -- many others.
Given the space limitations of newspaper columns, we cannot examine each one in depth although all deserve extensive analysis.
Thus, we will only cover a few with a paragraph or two. Most of the following comes from Earth.org, a leading environmental news website.
Biodiversity
The populations of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians have experienced a decline of an average 68 percent between 1970 and 2016. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years.
Up to 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on Earth are at risk of extinction — many of them within decades — according to scientists and researchers who produced a sweeping U.N. report.
Without human destruction of nature, this loss would have taken thousands of years.
Plastics
In 1950, the world produced about 2 million tons of plastic. By 2024, this annual production grew to 445 million tons, and it is expected to reach 540 million tons by 2050. If you are having trouble grasping these figures you are not alone. What’s more, 91 percent of all plastic that has ever been made has not been recycled. Plastic presents us with one of the most significant environmental dangers “of our lifetime,” says Earth.org.
We are being strangled by plastics on land and the seas. There are huge patches of plastics on oceans, some larger than twice the size of the state of Texas, and oceans bottoms are covered with microplastics which fish ingest.
A study in February found microplastics in 99 percent, or 180 out of 182 seafood samples, either from store bought fish or from fishing boats in Oregon.
In another study made public in early February, scientists reported that tiny microplastics are making their way into the human brain.
The new study, published in Nature, found that brain samples collected in 2024 contained significantly more microplastics than those taken eight years earlier. The amount of plastic in the brain has increased by about 50 percent -- the equivalent of an entire plastic spoon in weight.
Deforestation
Given the degree of deforestation every day, every hour, by the year 2030, the planet might only have 10 percent of its forests left. All forests could be gone in less than a century.
Most of the deforestation occurs in three countries: Brazil, The Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. The Amazon, the world’s largest rain forest, is home to about three million species of plants and animals. Rain forests are also vital, as mentioned in a previous column, because they absorb CO2.
Air Pollution
Between 4.2 and 7 million people die from air pollution worldwide every year and 9 out of 10 people breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants. In Africa, 258,000 people died as a result of outdoor air pollution in 2017, up from 164,000 in 1990.
More than half a million people in European countries died from heath issues directly linked to toxic pollutants exposure in 2021.
Melting Ice Caps/Sea Level Rise
The Artic is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. As a result, sea levels are rising more than twice as quickly as they did for most of the 20th century.
In 2019, Greenland lost a record amount of ice -- an average of a million tons per minute throughout the year. In the summer of 2020, 60 billion tons of ice were lost in Greenland. The Greenland ice sheet, the second largest ice sheet in the world, is cracking more rapidly than ever before, scientists reported in early February.
This melting is causing record sea level increases, threatening floods in coastal areas that are home to 340 to 480 million people. Five Solomon Islands have “disappeared” because of rising seas and another 20 are expected to sink around the world by the end of the century. Experts predict that by 2100 seas will rise enough to sink eight U.S. cities on the East Coast.
Agriculture/Clean Water
The global food system is responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions with 30 percent caused by livestock and fisheries. Projections by experts warn that global food demand may increase by 70 percent by 2050.
About 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least once a month.
Fashion and Textile Waste
This is one category, I am confident, no one reading this series ever thought would be a threat to the planet. Yet, it accounts for 10 percent of global carbon emissions. It produces more greenhouse gas emissions than aviation and shipping combined.
The world generates an estimated 101 million tons of textiles waste every year, and that number is expected to increase to 147 million tons by 2030.
I have not even given any space to the following in this series: Dying coral reefs, nuclear waste disposal, overfishing, ocean acidification, soil degradation or garbage disposal (yes, garbage disposal is a horrendous problem).
Again, none of this tells the full story, and I almost feel like apologizing for reporting all this bad news. But we need to understand the problem in order to solve it.
If you believe these problems or the others discussed in previous columns, can be fixed, then you don’t want to read my conclusion, the next and final column in this series on the environment.
—————
Berl Falbaum is a political author and journalist and the author of several books.
Population growth and global warming are two of the “biggies” we discussed in previous columns.
But there are numerous other environmental challenges that threatened a habitable Earth. Each one foretells an ominous future.
These include: pollution of air, water, soil, noise, radiation, light and thermal; soil degradation; dying coral reefs, depletion of natural resources; waste disposal; ocean acidification and hundreds of “dead zones” in which fish can no longer breed because of pollution; plastic suffocation; overfishing, nuclear waste disposal and acid rain. And there are others -- many others.
Given the space limitations of newspaper columns, we cannot examine each one in depth although all deserve extensive analysis.
Thus, we will only cover a few with a paragraph or two. Most of the following comes from Earth.org, a leading environmental news website.
The populations of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians have experienced a decline of an average 68 percent between 1970 and 2016. More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years.
Up to 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on Earth are at risk of extinction — many of them within decades — according to scientists and researchers who produced a sweeping U.N. report.
Without human destruction of nature, this loss would have taken thousands of years.
In 1950, the world produced about 2 million tons of plastic. By 2024, this annual production grew to 445 million tons, and it is expected to reach 540 million tons by 2050. If you are having trouble grasping these figures you are not alone. What’s more, 91 percent of all plastic that has ever been made has not been recycled. Plastic presents us with one of the most significant environmental dangers “of our lifetime,” says Earth.org.
We are being strangled by plastics on land and the seas. There are huge patches of plastics on oceans, some larger than twice the size of the state of Texas, and oceans bottoms are covered with microplastics which fish ingest.
A study in February found microplastics in 99 percent, or 180 out of 182 seafood samples, either from store bought fish or from fishing boats in Oregon.
In another study made public in early February, scientists reported that tiny microplastics are making their way into the human brain.
The new study, published in Nature, found that brain samples collected in 2024 contained significantly more microplastics than those taken eight years earlier. The amount of plastic in the brain has increased by about 50 percent -- the equivalent of an entire plastic spoon in weight.
Given the degree of deforestation every day, every hour, by the year 2030, the planet might only have 10 percent of its forests left. All forests could be gone in less than a century.
Most of the deforestation occurs in three countries: Brazil, The Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. The Amazon, the world’s largest rain forest, is home to about three million species of plants and animals. Rain forests are also vital, as mentioned in a previous column, because they absorb CO2.
Between 4.2 and 7 million people die from air pollution worldwide every year and 9 out of 10 people breathe air that contains high levels of pollutants. In Africa, 258,000 people died as a result of outdoor air pollution in 2017, up from 164,000 in 1990.
More than half a million people in European countries died from heath issues directly linked to toxic pollutants exposure in 2021.
The Artic is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet. As a result, sea levels are rising more than twice as quickly as they did for most of the 20th century.
In 2019, Greenland lost a record amount of ice -- an average of a million tons per minute throughout the year. In the summer of 2020, 60 billion tons of ice were lost in Greenland. The Greenland ice sheet, the second largest ice sheet in the world, is cracking more rapidly than ever before, scientists reported in early February.
This melting is causing record sea level increases, threatening floods in coastal areas that are home to 340 to 480 million people. Five Solomon Islands have “disappeared” because of rising seas and another 20 are expected to sink around the world by the end of the century. Experts predict that by 2100 seas will rise enough to sink eight U.S. cities on the East Coast.
The global food system is responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions with 30 percent caused by livestock and fisheries. Projections by experts warn that global food demand may increase by 70 percent by 2050.
About 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least once a month.
This is one category, I am confident, no one reading this series ever thought would be a threat to the planet. Yet, it accounts for 10 percent of global carbon emissions. It produces more greenhouse gas emissions than aviation and shipping combined.
The world generates an estimated 101 million tons of textiles waste every year, and that number is expected to increase to 147 million tons by 2030.
I have not even given any space to the following in this series: Dying coral reefs, nuclear waste disposal, overfishing, ocean acidification, soil degradation or garbage disposal (yes, garbage disposal is a horrendous problem).
Again, none of this tells the full story, and I almost feel like apologizing for reporting all this bad news. But we need to understand the problem in order to solve it.
If you believe these problems or the others discussed in previous columns, can be fixed, then you don’t want to read my conclusion, the next and final column in this series on the environment.
—————
Berl Falbaum is a political author and journalist and the author of several books.
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