As delegates prepare to sit down at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro June 20-22 to try to reach agreements on a more sustainable future, it might be helpful to take stock of the state of our planet today.
It is very easy if you live in a certain level of comfort in the developed or even the developing world to be a little blind to the damage that man has been doing to the planet over the last 100 years, and the damage we cause by maintaining the lifestyles that we do.
Those who live comfortably – including the writer of this blog post – seldom directly see the desperate conditions being endured by over 50 percent of the world’s population or the real extent of the damage being done to our planet. Out of sight, out of mind, might be the best way to describe the comfortable bubbles we live in.
But let’s try to take stock, keep it short, and keep it simple.
AIR
Climate scientists tell us we are pumping too much carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere and that this is having a serious affect on climate, melting ice, raising sea levels, and disrupting temperatures and weather patterns.
You don’t need to cough on the thick smog in Beijing to know that pollution of the atmosphere is spreading around the world. What is spewed out by a dirty factory half way around the world can end up on your doorstep. And it can be happening in your backyard without you realizing it.
We need to bear in mind that the atmosphere around the Earth is proportionally not a lot thicker than the peel on an apple, 10 miles “thin”. There is not a lot to play with.
Climate change is beginning to play havoc with weather patterns and is negatively affecting agriculture. Some of this is natural. Over millions of years there have been natural changes in climate that bring on droughts, floods and more. But man-made pollution appears to be having a rapid and drastic affect on climate and the pace of change is picking up.
If a recent study entitled “Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere” is to be believed, we may be headed for a “tipping point” that could have serious repercussions, far worse than what some scientists have been forecasting.
As Grist blogger David Roberts says in his recent blog post, “in a sane world this would be front-page news.” If this study proves right, “We ain’t seen nothing yet!”
WATER
We tend to take water for granted. But actually the amount of freshwater available to us comes down to about 2 percent of the total water in the world. We are said to be using a third of the freshwater available on the planet.
We are using up this resource at a dramatic rate, including water from underground aquifers, and we are polluting the rivers, lakes and oceans. Currently wars are being fought for oil but fights over water will increase during this century as water gets harder to access.
Visit some of the villages in India or the Sahel in Africa to get an insight into the water crisis. Talk to the farmers and herders and you will understand the importance of water. The wells are going deeper. The wells are drying up. In time, many areas will become uninhabitable.
But the water crisis is also likely to be not far from your door. Chances are the water level in aquifers under your feet is falling.
EARTH
We are digging up and polluting the land to such an extent that companies are blowing up and knocking down the mountains and strip mining land in a search of coal, tar sands and other minerals. As part of the madness, fracking companies are blasting chemical-laced water underground to force out gas, polluting water supplies, wrecking the environment and occasionally causing small earthquakes.
Because it is not in our backyard, we don’t realize just how damaging the mining of tar sands is in Alberta, Canada. This scar on the Earth can be seen from space. And as local inhabitants know, the pollution is horrendous, the incidents of cancer and other health problems high. And the oil companies are only just getting going. This form of mining is spreading.
FLORA
We are cutting down trees and burning off undergrowth at such a rate that not only is it contributing to the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are reducing the natural sinks for carbon dioxide. Most of the logging practices around the world are not sustainable. Clear cutting is rife and replanting is minimal. At the rate we are going, 80 percent of the world’s forest cover will be gone in 20 years.
Destruction of flora also includes a reduction in biodiversity and the loss of useful species of plants and the natural habitat of wild animals.
FAUNA
We are killing off much of the world’s wildlife on land and in the rivers and oceans. Overfishing is not only leading to a crisis in seafood supplies. A wrecking of the marine life balance could have a dramatic affect on the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and contribute to shifts in the natural processes in the oceans.
And, hey, fauna ought to include us, the most destructive and deadly species on earth. Are we dumb enough not to realize that all this destruction to the air, water, earth, flora and fauna is actually threatening our own species? And can the world really handle 9-10 billion people, the anticipated size of the world’s population in the year 2050?
THE DANGERS OF BUSINESS AS USUAL
This is a quick roundup of the challenges we face in the year of Rio+20, the Earth Summit.
We can’t afford to accept business as usual. Economic growth at any cost will not work. The world’s resources are not infinite. You can’t go on expecting more from less and less.
SIGNS OF HOPE
What can we expect from Rio+20, the Earth Summit? Not a lot. Too many world leaders have blinkers on staving off economic crises, fighting wars and courting big business to maintain support for themselves and their political parties or groups. World leaders have demonstrated clearly year after year that they are not willing to make tough decisions to protect the environment.
So what does this mean? It means it is up to you and fellow activists to take action to bring change.
What can one person do? What can a small group do?
In this modern-day interconnected world, you can do a lot. Individuals and small groups can grow into a force for change. The cage has been rattled. The inhabitants are stirring into action.
Just check out the movements growing for a new approach to how society is run, including the Occupy movement. Look at the breadth of support growing for such global movements as those run by 350.org, Sea Shepherd, United Conservationists, and Greenpeace. And on a local level, people are standing up against the destruction of the environment in their backyard – ordinary people, concerned people, people who care about the environment and the future for their families.
Bringing real change could prove damn hard. But what choice is there?
