Environmental Issues Our World is Facing Today

Human Population

First and foremost, the most important environmental issue today is human population. From the creation of the Earth until the 1800’s, our global population reached 1 billion individuals. In a short 200 years, global population has reached a whopping 6.5 billion people. Although this means more friendships, more chances at finding love, etc., it also causes many problems.
For example, we are the top reason animals are forced into habitats where they don’t belong, due to pollution of water, pollution of air, and tearing down their natural habitats (to build communities). This causes millions of species to become endangered, and in too many cases, extinct.
The approximate 74 million people brought into this world each year will need to be fed, have clean water, a place to sleep, and all the communities that need to be built will continue to negatively affect the environment.

Mammal Extinction

Twenty-five percent of mammals are endangered. It is highly possible we will witness thousands of species die out in our lifetime. Hunting and habitat loss are growing rapidly in locations such as Central Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia; that these mammals can barely fight back.
Although some people believe that this has no effect on them, they would be wrong. For one, we would be losing the beauty of nature and its inhabitants. Mass extinctions cause a very serious imbalance in the food chain. All species on this planet are interconnected; when predators decrease, prey increases. On the other hand, when prey dies out, predators will either decrease or migrate to a new environment where it doesn’t necessarily belong.

Fish Stock is Collapsing

Millions of people rely on fish as a major portion of their diet. Because of this, fisherman occupations have increased to withdraw mass fish quantities from the ocean. Although this is excellent for fisherman, it is not so good for the fish. We are heading for a global collapse (as soon as 2048) of fish currently being fished. If this were to happen, it would majorly impact many ecosystems in the world.
There is still hope! If overfishing and pollution threats are reduced soon, we may be able to prevent this. Certain fish are being fished so heavily, or died from pollution, that they have dwindled down to 10 percent of their original population. Hopefully we find an alternative to the path we are fishing today; otherwise, we will see a one hundred percent collapse, mid-century.

Rain Forest Destruction

Although saving the rainforest has been at the top of the list for the environmental movement, we are currently still facing major losses in the Amazon. By the year 2030 half of the Amazon is likely to be destroyed due to deforestation and global warming. Hopefully, something will turn this around soon. The World Wildlife Fund informed us that in only 15-25 years, we will have reached the point of no return. This will have a domino effect of rain forests in the world.