What are the Biggest issues facing our environment

How do we save our planet? 

This question has caused confusion, frustration, and controversy between humanity out there, all living on the same broken planet. This topic needs to be discussed more and we need to start getting the real facts about the issues we face when we talk about healing our environment.

Fossil fuels:

Many will argue that we need to cut fossil fuels out and move on to all electric, but what is the point of switching when it only causes more harm to the earth, especially when it comes to transportation? Electric cars are not going to be the savior of our planet, specifically due to the process that creates a car battery. First you need to gather the materials to make the battery; this includes, lithium, cobalt, and some greenhouse gasses. To get lithium, tons and tons of water is pumped into some salt flats, causing mineral-rich salt water to rise to the surface. Then, the lithium is filtered out, and the mixture is left behind. Except the mixture is left to evaporate back into the air, which can lead to soil degradation, water shortages, damage to the ecosystem and even increase in global warming. But let’s move onto the next process, gathering cobalt (a chemical element). Mining cobalt produces very poisonous byproducts that can make their way into the ecosystems and completely destroy environments. Just the making of electric cars causes so much harm to our planet, more than the use of these cars prevents. In the year 2022, electric car sales accounted for 5.6% of the total auto market,  almost 3% more sales the the previous year. Now let’s compare this information to the environment’s current state; according to the European Environment Information and Observation Network, “In late September 2022, the Antarctic ozone hole reached its maximum area with 24.5 million km².” Personally, I don’t believe in coincidences, and hopefully you won’t either. 

Deforestation:

 Did you know that deforestation causes about five billion tons of carbon dioxide to make their way into the atmosphere? Just to give a perspective on this, carbon dioxide contributes about 76% to global warming. So why are industries like the U.S. Department of Agriculture Taking down trees and promoting global warming? Probably for the nearly 1.74 billion dollars that go into their pockets a year, because they are funding this cause. When you go onto the USDA website, one of the first things you see under their “Priorities list” is addressing climate change! But on the other hand there are multiple organizations trying to help out forests, these include, The Nature Conservancy, Eden Reforestation Project, Plant With a Purpose, and, One Tree Planted. Even with all of this hope for our forest, there are still plants and animals without a home, unfiltered drinking water, and contaminated air qualities.

Our oceans:

Whale poop contributes more than half of the world’s oxygen; yes this is a true fact, so let’s dig into what this means. The whale poop itself does not produce oxygen, but it feeds the species that does; this species is called phytoplankton, and it’s a type of plankton that floats around all day on the surfaces of our oceans. The plankton consume the whale feces then with the help of sunlight, and water, they take Carbon dioxide and create oxygen. What is astonishing to me is that these small little organisms create more than half of the world’s oxygen! So this brings up my next topic of discussion, why are we as humans destroying the one thing that keeps us alive? “There are now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans.” –Condor Limited 2023.; Read that again, One hundred million sharks, One million fish, one million seabirds, 500,000 crabs, 300,000 whales, 40,000 seals, 1000 turtles,  all die every YEAR, to the horrific amounts of not just plastic but garbage in our oceans. And I wouldn’t dare to go into detail about the ginormous garbage island that is in china. People need to stop focusing on the lies in politics, the hatred towards countries, and the screens in front of their faces. There are real problems out there that need your attention more than your phone or laptop. If you wish to learn more about this topic the netflix documentary “SeaPiracy”, includes so much more information on what’s happening to our oceans and ways to help. I highly recommend watching it, because the facts are real, the dangers are high, and If the ocean dies, we die.

I have done tons of research and read my article over and over and it still doesn’t even scratch the surface. I write because I care, I care what type of environment children have to grow up in, I care about the earth’s wildlife and ecosystems that have been here long enough to deserve some respect. I care because I know that one day, no one will, all because they have been misled, mistreated and lied too first hand, but also because they let themselves be lied too, they sat there as the candle burnt out not even making an attempt to save the flame. Electric cars are butchering our environment. Massacring Forests for personal profit is wrong. And completely slaughtering and annihilating our oceans with garbage and commercial fishing will be the death of us. I hope that you learned something from this article and maybe even do some of your own research. We all have a responsibility as the next generation to step up and fight for what we believe in.