Recent environmental disasters

 
Environmental disasters that occurred after January 2000

November 2006 - At least 23 people are killed in a mine in the south of Poland, consequential to a methane explosion. Only three people survive the mining accident.

November 2006 - At least eight people are killed by a series of tornadoes in North-Carolina, USA. Considerable damage is done, and authorities fear the death toll will increase further.

October 2006 - The Greek Isle of Crete is subject to storms. Parts of the isle are flooded and dozens of tourists are evacuated. A number of houses flood and water is pumped out by firemen. Aerial traffic is complicated.

October 2006 - An earthquake of 6,6 on the Richter schale hits Hawaii, causing emergency measures to be taken. The location is relatively sparsely populated, therefore damages are limited. Honolulu experiences power outage, and 3000 people are evacuated from two beach hotels.

October 2006 - Typhoon Xangsane kills at least 16 people in Japan, and in China another person is killed. Earlier, the typhoon caused the death of 76 people in the Phillipines.

September 2006 - Explosion in a mine in southeast Ukraine kills at least 13 people, and injures 36 people. The explosion is caused by a leak in a carbon-gastank.

September 2006 - Explosion in a Mittal Steel mine in Kazachstan kills 18 people. The cause remains unknown, and 40 people are declared missing.

September 2006 – Human rights organisation Christian Aid announces that the continuing drought might cause a famine in Afghanistan that may kill millions of people.

September 2006 – A fire in a waste treatment plant in Maastricht, The Netherlands, causes smoke and smell nuisance.

September 2006 – Illegally deposited waste from oil tanker Probo Koala causes and environmental disaster at Ivory Coast. Seven people die from intoxication, and another 40,000 people fall ill. Oil residues contain toxic substances, such as hydrogen sulphide (H2S). Eight people responsible for the disaster are arrested, and environmental and transport ministers are replaced, followed by a major clean-up operation.

July 2006 – Bombing of an electricity plant during the Lebanon war causes a leakage of 25,000 tons of crude oil from the Lebanese coast to the Mediterranean Sea.

June 2006 – Typhoon Ewiniar hits China, Korea and the Japanese islands and kills at least 40 people. An enormous amount of people needs to be evacuated, and many homes are destroyed by storms and floods caused by heavy rains.

February 2006 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina 18 tons of boiling hot oil pollute the River Neretva in the south. The oil comes from a transformator of a power plant in Jablanica.

January 2006 - Six tons of diesel oil leak into the Yellow River in the province of Henan, China from a power plant and spreads towards the Bohai Sea. Fortunately, not much damage is done to local shrimp fishery, because shrimps are only present in sediments during winter.

January 2006 – Food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti, caused by extreme drought and civil war, results in a famine that victimizes 11 million Africans. In Kenya, at least 30 people die of hunger.

December 2005 - Chinese authorities dump iron and aluminum into the Bei River in the province of Guangdong. It is carried out as a measure to prevent further spreading of cadmium pollution caused earlier that month.

December 2005 - A Slovakian oil tanker containing 42 tons of crude oil catches fire and sinks near Bulgaria in the Danube River. The accident causes a kilometre-wide oil slick, and measures are taken to prevent further oil spills.

November 2005 – A Series of explosions in a petrochemical plant in China pollutes the River Songhua, and leaves the city of Harbin without water for days. In total, the benzene spill kills 5 people, injures another few dozen people, and results in the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in the area.

October 2005 - A fire in the east wing of the prison complex in Schiphol, The Netherlands, kills 11 people. The Safety Counsel states that fire damage could have been prevented if government services would have followed fire safety regulation. Fire tests indicate that a cigarette fag caused the fire.

October 2005 – Hurricane Wilma hits parts of Mexico and Cuba, results in mudflows, kills 62 people and causes over 20 million dollars damage.

October 2005 – Earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan kills over 80,000 people, and leaves over 3.3 million homeless. Most people die during landslides caused by the quake. Reconstruction is difficult, and a year later not all structures are repaired. An estimated 66,000 people still do not have a home, and about 40,000 of them stay in refugee camps.

September 2005 - Manure pollutes the River Linde in The Netherlands, between Wolvega and De Blesse. Fish deaths are numerous, and surrounding cities experience smell nuisance. It is suspected that a farmer in Noordwolde spilled manure a few weeks earlier, because of some problems with a liquid manure injection.

September 2005 – Typhoon Longwang kills 96 people at the Japanese coast; en gradually diminishes to a tropical storm.

September 2005 – Hurricane Rita strikes Louisiana, kills seven people directly, and causes many more casualties during evacuations and from indirect consequences (fires, car crashes, illness, poisoning). Eventually, the official death toll is set on 120.

August 2005 - Hurricane Katrina causes devastation in the American cities of New Orleans and Louisiana; beaches erode, more than 1,600 people die, and survivors plunder stores and use violence against each other and against authorities.

July 2005 – Typhoon Haitang strikes Taiwan and China. Heavy squalls and rains cause 13 casualties, and at least 18 people are severely wounded.

July 2005 – Large parts of Bombay, India are flooded, causing more than 1,000 casualties.

June 2005 – Severe monsoon rains in Gujarat, India cause floods, resulting in 123 deaths, and about 250,000 evacuees.

March 2005 – An earthquake near Fukuoka, Japan hurts 70 people severely, and causes light wounds on more than 1,000 people. The many after shocks result in the evacuation of a large number of people.

2005 – Extreme droughts result in failed maize harvest, followed by famine in Malawi, Southeast Africa.

December 2004 - Tanker Selendang Ayu from Malaysia strands near the coast of Alaska, breaks in two, and leaks about 500,000 litres of oil into the ocean.

December 2004 – Indian Ocean earthquake causes tsunami and subsequently kills almost a quarter of a million people (see environmental disasters).

October 2004 – Earthquake in Chuetsu, Japan leaves 3,000 people injured, and many more lose their homes.

March 2004 – Tank car containing bromine tilts near Ekeren, causing a bromine cloud to form and leaking 6000 litres of bromine to the sewers, subsequently flowing into the River Schelde. About 3,000 people are evacuated, and a major clean-up operation starts.

October 2003 – Large fire in the south of California (US) causes 14 casualties. Nearly 3,000 square kilometres of forest is burned, along with more than 3,500 houses.

October 2003 – A fire in San Bernardino Mountains in California (US) kills 6 people, and destroys nearly 1,000 homes. Nearly 400 square kilometre forest is lost.

August 2003 – Extreme heat wave in Europe results in more than 2,000 casualties. On some locations temperatures exceed 40oC.

June 2003 – Iraqi civilians steal a number of uranium containers from a nuclear power plant, and rinse them out in rivers. The barrels are applied to store milk, tomatoes and drinking water. Selling the barrels makes it extremely hard to trace any (see environmental effects of warfare).

June 2003 – Fire destroys nearly 350 square kilometres of land in Santa Catalina Mountains in Arizona (US). Approximately 340 homes are destroyed, and total costs are about 24 million dollar.

December 2002 – Oil tanker Tricolor collides with another ship near the coast of France. During the clean-up operation multiple accidents cause oil spills (see environmental disasters).

November 2002 - Left-wing rebels from Colombia detonated 123 pipelines by means of dynamite. The amount of oil leaking from the pipes is three times that leaking from the oil tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989 (see environmental disasters).

November 2002 – Storms cause some problems for tanker Prestige, resulting in cracking of the tanker, and a 170,000 litre oil spill that flows in the direction of Belgium and The Netherlands.

August 2002 - Chlorine gas is emitted from the Spolana chemical plant in Czechia, near Prague. The direct cause appears to be flooding of the River Elbe, causing water damage that results in leaking storage tanks.

August 2002 - Forest fires, exhaust fumes, industrial discharge and coal and manure burning cause a three kilometre thick blanket of brown smoke over India, Myanmar, South-China, large parts of Southeast-Asia and the Pacific. Smog contains mostly soot, sulphur dioxide and greenhouse gases, and causes floods and crop failure, among other effects.

June 2002 – Major forest fire near Denver, Colorado (US) results in the evacuation of more than 5,000 people. The fire starts as a small campfire and rapidly spreads over more than 200 square kilometres because of extreme drought. More than 40 million dollars of damage repair is required.

June 2002 – Fire in Arizona burns more than 2,000 square kilometres of forest, and more than 30,000 people are evacuated.

October 2001 - Cyanide spill from a ruptures dam pollutes the Asuman River in the west of Ghana. Thousands of cubic metres of water containing cyanide and heavy metals causes many fish, brabs and birds to die, and drinking water in nearby cities is polluted.

September 2001 – Explosion at a nitrogen fertilizer plant in Toulouse, France, causes a big crater to form, and thirty people are killed instantly. More than 10,000 people get hurt, and 40,000 people are left homeless. The plant is completely destroyed.

September 2001 – Terrorist attacks of the World Trade Centre in the US cause about 3,000 casualties, among which are many fire fighters. The event causes an environmental disaster, as an atmospheric plume forms over lower Manhattan (see environmental effects of warfare).

March 2001 - The largest oil platform in the world, the P-36 of Brazilian oil society Petrobras, threatens to tilt over. One leg cracks and the platform moved 35 degress forward. A series of explosions kills two people, and another eight are missing. Measures are taken to keep the hulk from tilting over completely.

Januari 2001 - Oil tanker Jessica strands near the Galapagos Isles, about 1000 kilometres west of Equador. An estimated 800 tons of oil leaks into the sea, and many seaguls and other sea birds die.

May 2000 – Fireworks container explodes in Enschede, The Netherlands, kills 23 people, and injures 950 more people.

May 2000 – Hard winds and extreme drought cause a major fire in New Mexico (US) from what started as a small controlled fire. More than 190 square kilometres of forest fully burned, and more than 400 families lost their homes in the flames.

January 2000 – About 100,000 m3 water with hydrogen cyanide flows from the River Tisza to the Danube River, after a leak in a settling basin in Baia Mare (see environmental disasters).


Bronnen

- BBC news
- Encyclopaedia Brittannica
- Nu.nl
- NRC Handelsblad
- Wikipedia

Read more: http://www.lenntech.com/recent-environmental-disasters.htm#ixzz1Bcz2GKx8

Environmental problems caused by human interference in matter cycles
In the past decades humans have been the cause of extensive environmental pollution. Pollution is not a one-sided term; all kinds of matter has been applied by humans, resulting in a disturbance in natural processes. Disturbances of natural processes are clearly shown, when you take a look at human interference in matter cycles. This has caused various environmental problems, which are important issues today.
I) Hydrological cycle
H2O


There are three ways in which humans cause environmental problems by interfering with the hydrological cycle. Firstly, we remove large quantities of freshwater from rivers, lakes and groundwater supplies. In areas where great amounts of people use the water from groundwater supplies, groundwater may be fully depleted. This effect is enhanced by vegetation removal to create new farmland or underground mines, or to build roads. Secondly, because of vegetation removal, rainwater washes away and it no longer infiltrates, so that the groundwater supplies are not restored. In many cases groundwater supplies will than be filled up with salt water from rivers and lakes. When groundwater is salinated the entire area is influenced. Other effects also occur because of vegetation removal; the risk of flooding is enhanced, and soil erosion and land sliding increase. Finally, people change the quality of water, by adding nutrients and contaminants. This causes the ecological processes that usually purify the water to be disturbed.

Back to the hydrological cycle

II) Nitrogen cycle
N


Humans cause environmental problems, by interfering with the nitrogen cycle in several ways.
During fuel combustion various compounds are released, among which nitrogen oxides (NOx). Nitrogen oxides react with oxygen in air, so that nitrous oxide gas (N2O) is formed. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas, which enhances the earth's temperature when it is present in the atmosphere too extensively. It can also react with ozone in the atmosphere, so that the ozone layer is broken down. The ozone layer is a kind of shell around the earth that consists entirely of ozone. This layer protects the earth and all its life from damaging UV-radiation. When the ozone layer is broken down, humans and animals can experience serious sunburns and skin cancer.
Nitrogen dioxide may also react with hydrogen in the atmosphere, to form nitric acid (HNO3). Nitric acid causes acid deposition, which can damage trees and marine ecosystems, due to increases in the pH of soil and water.
Humans are also responsible for shortages of nitrogen on certain locations. The shortages consist when humans remove nitrogen, to create fertilizers to apply on farmland. As a result, farmland becomes too rich in nutrients and other areas will suffer nitrogen shortages. Vegetation in these areas depletes.
When people want to create new farmland they often burn parts of forests, because the ground underneath these forests is very fertile. While the wood is burned more nitrogen dioxide escapes into air and nutrients are removed from the ground.

Back to the nitrogen cycle

III) Phosphorus cycle
P


Humans also cause environmental problems by interfering with the phosphorus cycle. We remove phosphates on certain locations, to apply it on farmland as fertilizers. On these locations the phosphate supply is moving, causing phosphate levels of surrounding land-soils and groundwater to become too high.
On farmland where phosphates are applied as fertilizers, plants do not absorb all phosphate. The phosphates end up in water and stream towards lakes and reservoirs, where they cause a phenomenon called eutrophication. Eutrophication means that the water is so rich in nutrients that it causes certain water plants, such as green algae, to grow extensively. As a result the oxygen supply in the water depletes, causing fish and other oxygen-dependent organisms to die and bacteria that are not oxygen dependent (anaerobic) to take over.
When people practise extensive wood chopping in forest areas, such as the tropical rain forest, phosphate supplies deplete, because most of the phosphate can be found in the ground under the trees in such areas. When the trees are removed the rain washes phosphates away, causing the ground to become unproductive.
Phosphate supplies are restored very slowly, because most phosphate in soils and water comes from weathering rocks and oceanic sediments.

Back to the phosphorus cycle

IV) Sulphur cycle
S

Today, humans are responsible for the consistence of 90% of the sulphur salts that are found on earth. These salts mainly are mainly formed during industrial processes, such as coal combustion processes, petroleum refining processes and melting processes. Sulphur compounds, such as sulphuric acid, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide can cause acid deposition on water and soil. This phenomenon causes the pH of water and soil to fall, which can influence life in the soil and water and disturb natural processes.

Back to the sulphur cycle

V) Carbon cycle
C

Humans cause environmental problems by influencing the carbon cycle in two ways.
Firstly, the removal of forests has caused depletion in plants and trees that absorb carbon dioxide. Humans cause great carbon emissions to the atmosphere, which take place during industrial processes, such as coal and oil combustion. These processes serve the generation of energy. As a result of these effects the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have greatly increased. Between 1870 and 1990 the carbon dioxide emissions to air have increased 25%. The carbon dioxide levels in air are now so high, that the uptake by plants and oceans is not fast enough.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. This means that increasing carbon dioxide levels in air support the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a term that is used for climate change on earth, caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can cause the earth to warm up. This will in time cause all kinds of negative effects, such as melting of ice from the Arctic causing floods on other continents.
Secondly, during the industrial revolution humans have used fossil fuels extensively for energy generation, as has been mentioned before. Because fossil fuels consist of dead organic matter it takes a very long time to restore the supplies. Because humans have been burning fossil fuels extensively over the past decades fossil fuel supplies are in danger of being exhausted.


Back to the carbon cycle Back to the matter cycles overview page
To the introduction of freshwater pollution

Acid deposition

Acid deposition is a general name for a number of phenomena, namely acid rain, acid fog and acid mist. This means it can imply both wet and dry (gaseous) precipitation. Acid deposition is a rather well known environmental problem, for example acid fog killed several thousand people in London in 1952.

Acid deposition is concerned with long-range rather than local effects. Pollutants are mixed in the atmosphere and therefore usually cannot be attributed to any local source. Pollutants are generally more dispersed and of lower concentrations than local ground level pollutants.
Acid deposition typically has a pH below 4, but this may be as low as 1.5 under seriously acidic conditions. It primarily consists of two types of compounds, namely sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) and nitric acid (HNO₃).

Sulphuric acid is formed by conversion of sulphur dioxide emitted from power stations, melting processes, home fires, car exhausts and other sources. It contributes about 70% to the overall acidity of deposition.
Reaction mechanism: SO₃ + H₂O -> H₂SO₄

Nitric acid is formed from nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions from fossil fuel combustion. It contributes about 30% to the overall acidity of deposition.
Reaction mechanism: NO₂ + OH^- -> HNO₃

Acid rain has various environmental and health effects, for example:
- Chocking plant leave pores (forest loss)
- Corroding stone and brick walls of buildings and monuments
- Corroding paper and rubber objects
- Altering soil chemistry (soil acidification, loss of plant nutrients)
- Altering the chemical balance of lakes and streams
- Disrupting fish gill operation (fish deaths)
- Deteriorating human breathing disorder (asthma, bronchitis, lung oedema)

When people die of acid deposition it is usually caused by access mucous production in the bronchi, leading to chocking from a lack of oxygen, or a heart attack.

Acid deposition in various countries

Acid deposition is a transboundary environmental problem. This basically means that emissions in one country may affect forests and structures in a neighbouring country. Therefore, international agreements were made, such as the Sulphur emissions Reduction Protocol (1979) and the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (1983).

Some examples of countries that experience(d) acid deposition, either from their own sources or from transboundary air pollution:
- Britain: smog episodes around London, particularly in 1952
- Germany: acid mists in central Germany and the Black Forest area, acid cold smog from Poland and former Czechoslovakia in 1985
- Greece: intense industrialization in the Athens area causes deterioration of ancient monuments such as the Parthenon by acid deposition
- Italy: damage to Venice structures from acid deposition
- Scandinavia: 15% of acid rain caused by Great-Britain
- Scotland: episodes of black acid snow in the Cairngorm mountains in 1984
- The Netherlands: corrosion of bells of the Utrecht Dom tower since 1951
- United States: acid rains disrupts forest ecosystems and pollutes surface waters, industrial fossil fuel combustion processes are adapted to prevent sulphur dioxide emissions

Sources

Graham and Trotman, 1983, Acid rain – A review of the phenomenon in the EEC & Europe, Environmental Resources Ltd

Pearce, 1987, Acid rain, what is it and what is it doing to us?, Richard Clay Ltd

http://bqs.usgs.gov/acidrain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_deposition

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

Image via National Wildlife Federation
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

Image via NASA
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

Image via Pew Environment Group
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 percent of species have been fished so heavily or have been so affected by pollution that they’re down to 10 percent of their previous population levels. If we continue the way we are fishing today, there will be a 100 percent collapse by mid-century, so we’ve got to turn this around fast.
4. Destruction of the Rain Forest

Image via Encyclopedia Britannica
‘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

Image via National Snow and Ice Data Center
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

Image via Visible Earth
The aforementioned 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

Image via Wikimedia Commons
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.