How A Rising Population Is Causing Climate Change

The Population Of Our Planet Is Expanding At An Unsustainable Pace Which Is Causing Fighting Climate Change Harder.

YouTube.com

pexels.com

By: Eythan Huang, Journalist

Climate change is one of the most challenging problems the world faces. This disaster can bring unprecedented environmental catastrophes that can harm the population such as hurricanes, floods, rising sea levels, and worsened air quality. Stopping it is one of our most urgent priorities. The globe’s rising population is a factor in climate change.

If the world’s population growth does not stabilize, fighting climate change will become more challenging.
By 2050, scientists estimate the earth’s population will have added another two billion people. With this, these people will need food, a living space, and daily items. All of this will take more land and resources from nature.

Before modern times, human population growth remained stable. Once industrialization and innovation happened, food, water, energy, and health care became more available to the common people. We will need to use the same social innovations to solve this new threat.

pexels.com

Living things need essentials to survive and goods to stay happy. Everyone needs to eat to survive. More farms must be created to provide for the people. These farms will need land; so forests would be destroyed for farmland. Growing crops also produces greenhouse gasses. For example, Nitrous Oxide is released from fertilizers for crops. Cows’ digestive systems leave methane in the air.

The amount of waste that would be produced would be astronomical. Global waste will rise seventy percent by 2050. With this massive increase, countries will need to provide water treatment and waste disposal. The construction of more landfills will rise which can pollute the community and make greenhouse gases. We will need to be more aware of waste to solve this problem.

The construction of more houses would accelerate climate change. First, the materials used to make houses are nonrenewable materials that can’t be replaced. These materials would need to be harvested more. The building industry also contributes a lot to climate change. Global building floor area will increase. Grappling with a large urban increase, we will be adding 2.4 trillion Ft. squared of new floor space every month.

pexels.com

We, humans, will need more innovation and smarter constructions to solve this problem. These two sectors are places that need a critical greener solution. So, we can sustain a larger population without releasing damaging greenhouse gases.

We can solve these critical problems through innovations in farming, Using more eco-friendly materials, and powering more buildings with renewable energy. We can also educate everyone on how to build a greener future together. Although we can’t completely stop climate change from progressing, this will slow down its pace on our planet.

Related Stories:

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/Summer22/highlight1.html

https://www.statista.com/topics/4983/waste-generation-worldwide/

www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues

https://sciencing.com/environmental-problems-due-population-growth

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/

Take Action:

Action for Climate Emergency