Please check this out.... Shocking Global Facts from davidshepherd.org Climate Change Climate change is the greatest environmental threat the world currently faces. Extreme weather disasters are at an all time high with 16 recorded in the 1960s and 70 during the 1990s, with the early part of the 21st century showing an even greater number of disasters. Today there is clear water at the North Pole in place of pack ice and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher now than at any time in the previous 20 million years. Latest estimates indicate that the hole in the ozone layer is approximately 9.2 million square miles. Species Extinction An accelerating decline in species has led some experts to predict that the Earth is on the verge of a mass extinction - this one will be the first global wipe-out, caused by another species, with humans the dominant agent of destruction! The worlds $100 billion timber industry is running out of control, helped by the global market and fuelled by greed. Deforestation is wiping out plants and animal species, increasing soil erosion and flooding and contributing to global warming. Commercial logging is believed to be responsible for the extinction of tens of thousands of species each year in tropical forests alone. 95% of all animals and plants that have ever lived on earth have now become extinct. Brazil holds about one third of the worlds remaining Rain Forest. Between 2000 and 2005 nearly 35,000 square kilometers of the Rain Forest were lost. A comprehensive study on coral reefs, which support over 60% of the worlds fish stocks and in fact occupy a much smaller area of the planet than previously thought (about half the size of France), warns that many of these ecosytems face extinction because of rising sea temperatures and human pressures. Sustainability The Earths supply of natural resources may only be able to sustain 2 billion humans by 2100 - not good news for a global population that currently stands at 6.4 billion and is expected to reach 8.9 by 2050, by which time the population in the 50 poorest countries will have tripled in size. Half a billion people already live in countries that are water-scarce and this is expected to triple in the next 20 years. In 1998 about 137 million humans were born and some 53 million died. This net gain of 84 million represents more than 230,000 additional residents reliant on the Earth’s resources every day of the year - can our fragile planet survive? Some experts predict that, with current trends, in 50 years time human beings will consume twice as many resources than the planet can replace every year. Every two weeks, more human babies are born in Africa than the number of elephants remaining in the wild on the entire African continent. It took the entire history of human life until 1830 to reach a world population of one billion people. Now we are adding one billion people a decade to our current world population of over 6 billion. Earth is 46 hundred million years old. Scale this down to 46 years, then modern man has been around for four hours and the industrial revolution began one minute ago. During those seconds, man has multiplied his numbers to plague proportions, ransacked the planet for fuels and raw materials and caused the extinction of countless species On average, every minute of the day, 274 people are born and 97 die. 177 extra people every minute means 93 million people each year. The vast majority of them are in third world countries that are least equipped to manage such growth. In ecological terms, it is not the simple population statistics that count, but the number of people multiplied by their average age consumption of energy and resources. The average US citizen consumes at least 50 times as much as the average Kenyan. China reportedly has 1 million car owners. In ten years, this figure is estimated to rise to a staggering 200 million. The top 300 multinational corporations own 25% of the worlds production resources. Incomes of the top ten surpass the collective gross national product of 100 of the worlds smallest nations. The worlds wealthiest 200 companies saw their profits grow by 362.4% between 1984 and 2004. Their collective sales are now higher than the combined gross domestic product of all but ten nations on earth. Since the top four US oil companies recently merged, their profits have soared by 146% - during what we were told was an energy crisis. 5% of the worlds population use up to 25% of the entire planet’s energy resources and the wealthier 16%, (mostly the US, Europe & Japan) use up to 80% of the worlds goods. Yet, as you read this, 1.3 billion people cant even have a glass of clean water. With less than 5% of the worlds human population, the United States consumes 25% of the worlds resources and is responsible for 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. President Barack Obama is attending Copenhagen Climate talks in December 2009 and has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Habitat Loss A unique satellite-based survey of the planets remaining closed forests, including virgin, old growth and naturally-regenerated woodlands, has found that over 80% are located in just 15 countries. The survey reveals that a surprising 88% are sparsely populated, for example the pressure from human population growth is low in Bolivia and Peru whilst in India and China the forests require urgent protection efforts. Brazil holds about one third of the worlds remaining Rain Forest. Between 2000 and 2005 nearly 35,000 square kilometers of the Rain Forest were lost. On average you would probably find ten species of tree in a hectare of English woodland. In the same area in an Indonesian forest, there would be over 250 tree species. 70% of the Earth is covered by water but less than 25% is freshwater. Only 0.25% of this freshwater is actually accessible with the rest stored deep underground or in ice. Much of this accessible water is stored in wetlands and yet over 50% of these areas have been destroyed in the last 100 years. A comprehensive study on coral reefs, which support over 60% of the worlds fish stocks and in fact occupy a much smaller area of the planet than previously thought (about half the size of France), warns that many of these ecosytems face extinction because of rising sea temperatures and human pressures. Pollution Approximately 6.5 million tonnes of litter finds its way into the worlds oceans each year. Studies have indicated that increasing ultra violet radiation (UVR) has limited the production of phytoplankton, the bottom of the food chain, by up to 23% which may have catastrophic consequences for species within the eco-system. After months of winter darkness, the first shafts of light signal the start of the Antarctic spring. Single-celled phytoplankton bloom underneath the melting ice floes. They are the basis of the marine food web and especially vulnerable to the effects of UVR. These floating gardens supply the food for 500-700 million tonnes of krill which feeds at least 120 species of fish, 80 species of seabirds, six species of seals and 15 species of whale.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 22:09:01 +0000
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