Our planet Earth is suffering from pollution. It threatens human beings, animals, planets, air and water. The world is now living under the threat of deadly pollution which will affect every living thing on the planet. The president of the UN environmental program said, “Environmental pollution is divided into two areas. Current dangers threaten us today and future ones which we must expect and work to prevent.”
The first danger is from carbon dioxide which has almost reached an all-time high level of 23,900 million tons which is an increase of 400 million tons — four times as large as they were 50 years ago. Human activities resulted in an excess of nitrogen because of fertilized farmland. The hole in the ozone layer still threatens Earth because of an increasing level of ultraviolet rays. The Montreal Protocol helped to reduce the hole which was originally expected to widen by 2050 and threaten the entire Southern Hemisphere.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornadoes and floods increased eight times in the last few years. The health cost for Southeastern Asian countries because of wild fires reached $1400 million. Twenty-five percent of mammals and 11 percent of birds are facing extinction. One out of three people will face the problem of finding drinkable water by 2025. Human activities threaten half the world’s coastal and marine areas.
The seas will rise half a meter and temperatures will rise 3.5 degrees because of the rising levels of carbon dioxide.
The UN expert said that nitrogen would be an international problem. Some areas receive nitrogen which causes unwanted ecological changes. Many fires will occur in the future because of weather changes and drought. New wars and border problems will occur and there will be conflict between countries sharing water from the same river. Government instability in many countries will weaken abilities to face local and regional problems and to deal with environmental issues.
We have not seen workable plans to protect the environment from pollution, in spite of meetings in Brazil and Johannesburg. The reasons are many. Some rich countries backed away from their financial commitments and from providing technology to protect the environment.
It is urgent to solve the water problem before it becomes insoluble. Water covers 70 percent of our planet’s surface and of this only 2.5 percent is fresh water. The remainder is either ice or salt water. If there are no changes, 18 percent of the world’s population will have no drinking water. The world media has neglected environmental problems and has not created public awareness of the problem.
Our main goal is to protect the environment from pollution and make people aware of the dangers of not doing so. We want to make it, rather than war, a top priority case in international affairs. Saving the environment is a vital part of protecting human rights and we do much to guarantee save human rights. Environmental problems, in terms of both importance and danger, are as much a crime against humanity as denial of freedom is.
