Let’s face it, we’re pretty much doomed as things stand. Our skies fill with smoke, our water chokes in plastic, the very planet is heating up and people and animals are dying. But these aren't natural disasters, they’re consequences of our behaviour
Let's face it, we're pretty much doomed as things stand. Our skies fill with smoke, our water chokes in plastic, the very planet is heating up, and people and animals are dying at record-breaking pace.
But these are not natural disasters, they're consequences of centuries of thoughtless human action.
1. Air pollution
We've been putting carbon into the atmosphere for years now, and it's starting to show. In busy cities, just breathing the air is the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes a day for years. On top of that, we're the biggest Sulphur Dioxide polluters here in India, and that affects both breathability and warming temperatures.
2. Plastic in the oceans
It's been clear to us for a while just how much plastic we dump into the oceans every year. But even if we were to phase out plastic from our lives today, we'd still see the effects of the pollution years from now. After all, there's tonnes of it buried in the ice of the Arctic, and even falling like snow.
3. Deforestation
We've been cutting down our rainforests like we have an unlimited supply of them. Earlier this year the Amazon rainforest lost 740 square kilometres of tree cover in just a month. That sort of reckless destruction has resulted in these forest regions growing warmer and drier, thus making them more prone to catching fire. Not to mention they're then scrubbing less carbon dioxide from the air.
4. Water Crisis
All of that temperature rise and tree cutting has had another effect. Precipitation levels are lower all around, and both farmers and urban areas are running out of water. We've yet to change anything about the food we eat though, and how products are manufactured. And if we don't we're staring down the barrel of a water crisis.
5. Too many mouths to feed
With that lack of water, as well as how exploitative current farming methods are, experts believe Earth's population is going to experience a global food crisis in a few decades. And the only way to avoid that they say is to turn to other sources of food. Out go the proteins like cattle meat and farm-reared chickens, and in come the maggot sausages.
6. Rising global temperatures
Rising temperatures also have a more direct impact. With just another degree rise, we can expect to see regular heat waves across the world, but particularly in heavily polluted countries like India and China. That means thousands more people will die each year, if not millions.
7. Melting Icecaps
The Earth heating up means warming oceans, which translates to melting icebergs at the poles, which in turn could raise sea levels. That means most areas along the coast will be permanently submerged.
Yeah, we've got a lot of not so great things to look forward to if we keep up our irresponsible treatment of the planet.