Dangers of Our Planet (part II)

Poverty/Hunger

Despite organizations that wish to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, these remain persistent problems facing humanity – especially in developing countries. Impeding access to healthy food, education, medicine, and more, poverty affects children most – and extreme hunger only perpetuates the cycle of poverty. With food costs increasing thanks to weather changes that make certain regions unfavorable for agriculture, malnutrition is another effect of these difficulties.

Energy Crisis

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have consumed fossil fuel rapidly, and some experts suggest “peak oil” is right around the corner. The world has already lived through several energy crises, but what’s coming could be worse – the social and economic implications are far-reaching, and worldwide blackouts are not implausible. Renewable energy is a viable solution; but it must be clean to stem emissions that cause pollution and weather changes.

Water Degradation/Scarcity

Due to overpopulation, pollution, climate change and other obstacles, many people live in areas plagued with water scarcity, with droughts gradually becoming a common problem around the world. Potable water is vital to the survival of life on Earth, because without it we must consume unsafe sources, which spreads diseases like cholera and dysentery. Conservation of fresh water is just one step to solving this issue, though that’s easier said than done.

Extreme Weather

Whether or not you believe it’s a man-made problem caused by excessive emissions and greenhouse gasses; whether you call it global warming or climate change; it’s hard to deny the existence of the extreme and unpredictable weather patterns plaguing our planet. The repercussions of these changes are more far-reaching than a simple polar vortex: rising temperatures, droughts, diminishing air quality, human displacement and dwindling natural resources are just the tip of the melting iceberg.

Overpopulation

Many of the devastating dangers our planet faces can be traced to this one problem. In 1950, the world’s population was approximately 2.5-billion; today it’s over 7-billion. With the number of births and our lifespans increasing, some doubt the Earth can sustain as many people as we’re producing – and issues like pollution, diminishing resources, species extinction and climate change might be the result, not to mention homelessness, pandemics and deforestation.