We are not prepared for the climate disaster, which is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. While numerous variables contribute to the crisis's worsening, some need more attention than others. Here are some of the most pressing environmental issues of our day.
The climate problem, according to economists like Nicholas Stern, is the outcome of many market failures. Economists and environmentalists have urged policymakers for years to raise the price of activities that emit greenhouse gases. One of our most serious environmental problems. The lack of which is the most significant market failure, such as through carbon taxes, which will stimulate low-carbon technology innovation.
Governments must not only increase financing for green innovation to drive down the costs of low-carbon energy sources, but they must also implement a variety of additional measures to address each of the other market failures if they are to reduce emissions fast and effectively.
Food Waste
Around 1.3 billion tons of food meant for human use are wasted or lost. This is plenty to feed three billion people. Moreover, food waste and loss emit 4.4 gigatons of greenhouse gases per year; if it were a country, food waste would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after only China and the United States.
Food waste and loss occur at various stages in developing and developed nations; 40% of food waste happens at the post-harvest and Processing levels in developing countries, whereas 40% occurs at the retail and consumer levels in developed nations.
Biodiversity loss
Human consumption, population, global trade, and urbanization have all increased dramatically in the last 50 years, resulting in humankind consuming more of the Earth's resources than it can replace naturally. According to a new WWF research, between 1970 and 2016, the population sizes of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians decreased by an average of 68 percent.
The research attributed biodiversity loss to several reasons: land-use change, including converting ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, and mangroves into agricultural systems. In addition, the illicit wildlife trade has a severe impact on animals like pangolins, sharks, seahorses, and pangolins are critically endangered as a result.
Plastic population
In 1950, more than 2 million tons of plastic were manufactured annually across the world. By 2015, yearly output had risen to 419 million tons. According to research published in the science magazine Nature, around 11 million tons of plastic enter the seas each year, damaging natural habitats and the species that dwell there.
According to the study, if nothing is done, this would increase to 29 million metric tons per year by 2040. If microplastics are included, the total amount of plastic in the ocean by 2040 might be 600 million tons.
Nayeli A
The Carbon Newsprint
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