The Environmental Crunch Threatening Life As We Know It

[temi]

The world is heading for an ecological credit crunch as human demands on the world's natural resources reach nearly a third more than Earth can sustain. This stark warning from the latest edition of WWFâ??s Living Planet Report shows that whilst American and United Arab Emirates citizens have the biggest ecological impact on the planet, Malawi and Afghanistan citizens have the smallest. The UK comes in 15th, having the same ecological footprint as 33 African countries put together, with the average UK residentâ??s impact on the planet being more than three and a half times that of the average Africanâ??s. More than three quarters of the worldâ??s people are now living in nations that are ecological debtors â?? where national consumption has outstripped their countryâ??s capacity to produce natural resources and capture carbon emissions. James Leape, Director General of WWF International, said: â??Most of us are propping up our current lifestyles, and our economic growth, by drawing - and increasingly overdrawing - on the ecological capital of other parts of the world,â?? â??If our demands on the planet continue to increase at the same rate, by the mid-2030s we would need the equivalent of two planets to maintain our lifestyles.â?? The report, which is published every two years, shows that carbon emissions from fossil fuel use and land disturbance are the greatest component of humanityâ??s footprint, underlining the key threat of climate change. â??Continued ecological deficit spending will have severe economic consequences,â?? said GFN Executive Director Dr Mathis Wackernagel. â??Resource limitations and ecosystem collapses would trigger massive stagflation with the value of investments plummeting, while food and energy costs skyrocket.â?? Globally, the ecological footprint of each person, measured in hectares, stands at: America - 9.4 ha per person UK - 5.3 ha per person China - 2.1 ha per person Congo â?? 0.5 ha per person In the report the new water footprint measures show up the significance of water traded in the form of commodities. For example, a cotton T-shirt requires 2,900 litres of water in its production, and on average each person consumes 1.24 million litres (about half an Olympic swimming pool) of water a year, but this varies from 2.48 million litres per person a year (USA) to 619,000 litres per capita annually (Yemen). The report finds that around 50 countries are currently facing moderate or severe water stress and the number of people suffering from year-round or seasonal water shortages is expected to increase as a result of climate change. The Living Planet Index, compiled by ZSL, which was released earlier in the year, shows almost a 30% decline since 1970 in nearly 5000 measured populations of 1,686 species. These dramatic losses in our natural wealth are being driven by deforestation and land conversion in the tropics and the impact of dams, diversions and climate change on freshwater species. Pollution, over-fishing and destructive fishing in marine and coastal environments are also taking a considerable toll. â??We are acting ecologically in the same way as financial institutions have been behaving economically - seeking immediate gratification without due regard for the consequences,â?? said ZSL co-editor Jonathan Loh. "The consequences of a global ecological crisis are even graver than the current economic meltdown.â?? The report suggests some key â??sustainability wedgesâ?? which if combined could stabilise and reverse the worsening slide into ecological debt and enduring damage to global support systems. For the single most important challenge - climate change - the report shows that a range of efficiency, renewable and low emissions â??wedgesâ?? could meet projected energy demands to 2050 with reductions in carbon emissions of 60 to 80 per cent. David Norman, director of campaigns at WWF said: â??We humans have been very good at creating problems - but we can be equally good at solving them. A sustainable world is not an unachievable goal. As the world looks to restore its economies we must build in long term environmental as well as economic sustainability.â??

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[bacardi]

I have read a good book called 2030 unfortunately I forget the name of the author. What the author basically is saying is that unless we curb our carbon emissions before that date it will be past the point of no return and no matter what we do after that date as it will basically feed on itself.

Also the cutting of our rainforest is also adding billions of tons of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere not to mention a source of carbon capture will have been eliminated. We all need to do our part if we want to have any chance whatsoever to curb greenhouse emissions.