—
10 SCARIEST Environmental Issues!! From the impacts of overpopulation to debate of climate change…stay tuned to number 1 to find out the 10 biggest environmental issues plaguing humanity!
—
—
Transcript Provided by YouTube:
00:00
From the impacts of overpopulation to debate of climate change…stay tuned to number 1
00:05
to find out the 10 biggest environmental issues plaguing humanity!
00:20
Number 10: Manifest Destiny.
00:24
In the early days of the United States, the immigrants that became colonists that became
00:27
members of the country were all located in the eastern part of the US.
00:31
But then, they needed more “elbow room” to grow, so they went to the middle and western
00:36
parts of the country.
00:37
They believed it was their right to do so, even calling it “Manifest Destiny”.
00:42
And while that kind of expansion has technically stopped in that regard…humanity is still
00:46
expanding as a whole, and that’s putting the rest of the world at risk.
00:51
By this, I mean that our population is still growing.
00:54
We’re currently at about 8 billion in population, and we’re running out of places to expand.
00:59
And so, we’re chopping down forests and other environmentally needed areas in order to try
01:04
and make more room for humanity.
01:06
This is very dangerous, because the trees we cut down were providing oxygen that we
01:11
need to survive, not to mention are a big part of the ecosystem.
01:15
Then, by chopping down lots of forests, we’re putting animals in danger by destroying their
01:19
habitats.
01:21
The more we expand, the more danger we’re putting our planet in, and yet, we’re still
01:25
expanding.
01:27
Number 9: Trashing Our World.
01:30
Easily one of the biggest current threats right now is in regards to all the trash and
01:35
waste that is just being stockpiled in the world.
01:37
While many items can be recycled, many don’t take the time to do that process.
01:41
Or, the items that they have aren’t recyclable, and that causes even more problems because,
01:47
without something to do with them, we literally just throw them away.
01:51
If you go across the United States, you’ll see massive landfills that are nothing more
01:56
than trash heaps that collect more and more junk every single day, week, month, and year.
02:02
And the problem is, the landfills are getting full.
02:06
So what happens when we don’t have anywhere left to put our trash?
02:10
Another trash problem can be found in the Pacific Ocean, where a near-literal continent
02:14
of trash resides.
02:15
Truly, trash from the coastlines and other incidents have caused a plethora of trash
02:20
to come together and just reside in the water.
02:23
You can see it go for miles because of the massive amounts of it.
02:26
And while people are talking about it, they’re not doing anything about it.
02:31
Slowly but surely, that trash will destroy us, even if we don’t recognize it.
02:36
Remember the Pixar film Wall-E?
02:39
That might be our future if we’re not careful.
02:42
Number 8: Lack Of Biodiversity.
02:45
Before we tackle this one, take a moment to like this video and join the Zero2Hero community
02:50
by subscribing to our channel!
02:52
Our world is full of life, wondrous and beautiful life, and that’s amazing.
02:56
But, as time goes on, a very disturbing trend is being found.
03:00
The amounts of different life in the world…is fading.
03:03
This abundance of different life is called Biodiversity, and it’s what helps make our
03:07
planet so special.
03:09
However, because of the expansion of humanity and the destruction of various habitats, the
03:13
world is starting to lose more and more species of animal.
03:17
According to the World Wildlife Foundation, that last three decades has cost the world
03:21
27% of its biodiversity, and if that trend continues, it could spell true disaster for
03:27
the world.
03:28
Why is that?
03:29
Simple, animals help make the world what it is, that’s just a fact.
03:34
And whether it’s the big cats, bats, insects, fish, or something else entirely, they all
03:39
have a role to play in making the world flow and grow.
03:42
But, when you start to lose that, the world suffers.
03:45
A particular species that is suffering is bees.
03:49
Without bees, a lot of the flower population doesn’t get pollinated, which would spell
03:54
utter disaster for farmers and crops, among those who grow various flowers for other reasons.
03:59
We need to protect the balance in our world, or else it’ll get wiped out, and we’ll all
04:04
suffer.
04:05
Number 7: Deforestation.
04:07
A great example about keeping the balance of our world safe is stopping deforestation.
04:13
Every day, acres upon acres of trees and forests and jungles are being chopped down, and all
04:18
because we have a massive need for wood, as we use it for various things in our world,
04:23
including paper and other things that we use every single day.
04:26
But, cutting down the forests is harming us.
04:29
It’s stopping the trees from producing oxygen, which we need to survive.
04:32
It’s harming the habitats of animals, and forcing them to adapt.
04:35
But if there’s no forest left to adapt in, what are they supposed to do?
04:40
And it should be noted that while new trees are being planted every day, they’re going
04:44
to take a LONG time to get to the point where they can help restore the environment, and
04:49
if we don’t change our act soon, they may never make it to that point.
04:54
Number 6: Overpopulation.
04:57
As I’ve mentioned before, the planet has a lot of people on it, 8 billion or so as of
05:01
November 2018.
05:03
This may seem like something that wouldn’t affect the environment outside of expansion,
05:07
but you need to think about this on another level.
05:09
Mainly, how people are surviving on the planet itself.
05:13
Yes, we do need housing to stay warm, and stay safe from the elements.
05:16
But, we also need food, water, medicine, and other things that can only be created from
05:22
things in the environment.
05:23
And our world has a limit as to how much everything can be produced.
05:28
Even right now, farmers are dealing with issues of getting enough crops to fulfill the demands,
05:32
especially with things like wildfires and droughts causing serious damage to farmlands.
05:37
Then there’s places like Africa, where technology isn’t exactly wide spread, so they have limitations
05:42
on what they can provide their own families, and themselves.
05:45
And let’s not forget, there are billions of people who use cars, and that’s pumping toxic
05:50
chemicals into the atmosphere, which is coming down and harming us in numerous ways, and
05:55
a big reason for that is because of how big our population is.
05:58
It may seem like “just a number”, but I assure you, it’s much more than that.
06:05
Number 5: Extinction.
06:07
I’ve talked about the animals of the world a lot so far, but let’s focus on one thing
06:11
we literally can’t take back: Extinction.
06:15
Because of various factors, there are animals out there that are completely disappearing.
06:20
Whether it be by human hands (like elephants and rhinos) or changing conditions in the
06:24
forests and waters of the world, certain animals are slowly going away.
06:28
And every single one that does is causing more harm to the environment.
06:32
Everything is connected in our world, even if you don’t see it at first.
06:36
So, when things start to get plucked out by extinction, it affects other animals, forces
06:40
them to adapt, and that can cause its own series of problems.
06:43
The biggest issue here is that just about every animal on Earth is in danger of being
06:48
extinct in one form or another, which is why we need to rally together to stop things like
06:53
pollution, poaching, and deforestation so that they can live their lives and we can
06:57
benefit from them.
07:00
Number 4: Climate Change.
07:04
One of the biggest topics in the world today is that of Climate Change.
07:09
Our world is warming up, slowly but surely, and that’s causing a lot of problems, slowly
07:13
but surely.
07:14
One of the obvious ones is that the polar ice caps are melting, or at least changing,
07:19
which is causing the ocean levels to rise.
07:21
Plus, the oceans themselves are getting warmer, which can harm the fish if not stopped.
07:26
And let’s not forget about us humans.
07:28
We’re the cause of the climate change, and the increases in the temperature is affecting
07:32
the weather of our world, and if it continues, it’s going to have a ripple effect that’ll
07:36
continue on until we can’t survive.
07:39
Thankfully, steps are being taken to help curb this, but if it’s going to make a difference
07:44
is anyone’s guess.
07:47
Number 3: Lack Of Water.
07:50
As Willy Wonka once said, “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”
07:55
And that’s a very good way to describe certain situations in our world right now, because
07:58
for many people, getting water to drink is a harsh endeavor, if it’s even possible at
08:03
all.
08:04
Granted, if you live in certain places, getting water is as easy as going to the tap, or if
08:09
you prefer more “pure” water, you go to the store and buying some bottled water.
08:13
But for many, MANY countries in the world…that’s just not an option.
08:18
780 million people (if not more) have no access to clean water at all because of their location.
08:25
Africa is a big place where this happens because there’s not much modernization outside of
08:29
a few key areas.
08:30
They have to walk for miles just to get some water, and then they have to walk back to
08:34
give it to their families.
08:36
And that’s if the water is good, water is being contaminated on a wide scale, and that’s
08:41
affecting the health of not just humans, but the animals in the water.
08:45
If it doesn’t get cleaned up, we’re all going to suffer.
08:49
Number 2: Public Health.
08:51
You might be thinking, “What does public health have to do with the environment?”
08:56
The answer is “everything”.
08:57
Think about it, there are many ways to get sick, yes.
09:00
But, one of the easiest ways is to catch something from the environment that you are in.
09:05
Whether it be you breathing in pollen from a field, or inhaling smoke from an area full
09:10
of smog.
09:11
There are areas all over the world that find themselves in deplorable conditions via one
09:15
reason or another.
09:16
There are whole parts of China that have people walking around with face masks because the
09:21
area is covered in smog.
09:23
The condition of the environment is the reason for this.
09:26
Between air pollution, water pollution, trash being everywhere and more, it’s causing an
09:31
unsafe living environment.
09:32
And when an environment is unsafe, that means its people aren’t safe.
09:36
Plus, there’s a movement right now that is asking for vaccines against key diseases and
09:41
sicknesses to be banned, even though it’s clear that the vaccines are helping people
09:46
and not hurting them like many believe.
09:48
And yet, people are choosing not to use them, which is putting the health of even more people
09:54
at risk.
09:56
Number 1: Pollution.
09:59
While Climate Change may be something that everyone is thinking about in one form or
10:03
another, the reason that it’s a problem at all is because of the pollution that is running
10:06
rampant in the world.
10:08
Let’s start with the obvious one, pollution from cars.
10:12
Internal combustion engines may be great for powering cars, but they aren’t good when it
10:16
comes to protecting the environment.
10:18
Between cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other such contraptions, the air of our world is
10:23
getting polluted slowly but surely, and it’s affecting us.
10:27
But it goes behind that.
10:29
As noted before, the trash of our world is just being thrown around like it won’t affect
10:34
anything, when it’s affecting everything that we do.
10:37
The land, the water, the animals, and us get hurt by such pollution.
10:42
There are people trying to stop it, that’s for sure, but if it’s not more enforced soon,
10:48
and if better solutions aren’t found for things like the engine, we’re going to be polluting
10:52
ourselves to our own demise.
10:54
What do you think is the biggest environmental issue facing humanity?
10:58
Let us know in the comments below and…take care!
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
—
Photo credit: Screenshot from video