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Transcription
Population growth has a profound impact on planetary boundaries. Sustainable living is important in addressing this issue. The world's population is increasing, leading to a greater need for resources and causing waste and pollution. Climate change and biodiversity loss are significant effects of population growth. Consumption patterns and technology also contribute to climate-boundary risks. Future consequences include strain on essential resources, environmental degradation, and social and economic challenges. Solutions include sustainable farming, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and resource conservation. Each individual can make a difference by being mindful of resource use and supporting eco-friendly choices. Welcome to Green Devolution Podcast, I am Priyanka. In today's episode, I will explore the critical link between population growth and its profound impact on planetary boundaries. Join us as we unravel the complexities of how human activities shape our planet's health and explore actionable strategies for a sustainable future. Before delve into the topic, let's start by understanding what population growth means. Population growth is just the number of people in the world going up. Like when more babies are born or people live longer, the population grows. Also, let's discuss about what planetary boundaries are. The basic of these are rules for how much we can use and change the earth without causing big problems. They are like limits to keep our planet healthy, covering stuff like pollution, how we use land and how much of earth resources we use up. For example, planetary boundaries include things like climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, how we use fresh water, land use and manage nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. The next term you should know is sustainable living. Sustainable living means living in a way that doesn't harm the environment. It involves using less energy, reducing waste and being careful with natural resources like water. Now we come back to the topic, do you know why is it important to address the issue of population growth? Let's discuss that. As you already know, right now there are more people on the planet than ever before in the history. Since the 1950s, our planet has seen a huge increase in the number of people living on it. The world's population was about 7.8 billion in 2020s. It's predicted to reach nearly 11 billion by the end of this year. However, most of these increases will happen in the countries with lower incomes rather than in the wealthier nations. This growth means we need more food, water, energy and other resources to support everyone. It also leads to more waste and pollution like greenhouse gases that cause climate change. That means long term shift in earth weather patterns caused by human activities. On the other hand, the environment is also affected by population growth. More people need more land used for cities, farms and industries, which can harm wildlife habitats and lead to biodiversity loss. So climate change and biodiversity are the two significant boundary affected by population growth. Now let's explore why this topic is important and how it directly relates to our lives. As human populations expand and therefore increasing land use for food production, resulting in the future unavailability of unrenewable energy resources have had a significant impact on environmental pollution. This has resulted in biodiversity loss and especially since the 1990s, human activities have been playing a critical role in causing climate change and global warming. Species lost their natural habitats, making them more vulnerable to extinction. Not only that, activities like fishing and pollution directly contribute to the decline of various plants and animal species. Another factor, habitat destruction, is also under the impact on population growth. This means when natural habitats such as forests, wetlands and corals are converted into agricultural lands and other areas of industry and so on. Human activities generate a wide range of pollutants, including air pollutants like greenhouse gases, particulate matter and ozone pollutants such as industrial chemicals, fertilizers and bio-pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides. Pollution negatively impacts ecosystems and wildlife, contributing to environmental degradation and ecosystem imbalance. Also, when we deep discuss about climate change, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial processes and agriculture release greenhouse gases into atmosphere. These gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide trap heat and lead to global warming and climate change. Climate change disrupts weather patterns, causes sea level rise, intensifies extreme weather events and threatens biodiversity and ecosystems. Besides the population growth, do you know what are the other significant drivers of climate-boundary risks? Consumption patterns, technology impacts are related as they are directly influenced by the environment footprint. The way we consume things, especially in wealthier countries, has a big impact on the planet. Research from Global footprint network shows that we are using up resources faster than the earth can renew them. For example, in places where water is scarce, we are using too much water and have a heavy reliance on fossil fuels for energy straining on the planet. When come to technological impacts, technology is great for making things easier but it also creates a lot of environmental problems. The production and disposal of fossil fuels contribute to electronic waste and industrial processes emit pollutants and greenhouse gases. The most important thing what will happen in future if current population growth and resource consumption trends continue? Firstly, there could be strain on essential resources like water, food and energy. As more people need these resources, there might not be enough to go around, leading to shortages and conflict of access. For example, according to the United Nations, the global population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, with water demand expected to exceed a sustainable supply by 40% by the same year. Secondly, the environment could suffer even more, with more people consuming resources and producing waste, the environment faces significant challenges. For example, a study published in Nature Communications found that global biodiversity is declining rapidly, with around 1 million species threatened with extinction primarily due to human activities. Not only that, the intergovernmental panel on climate change warns of more frequent and severe extreme weather events, rise in sea levels and disruption to ecosystems. This could lead to more severe climate change, gross biodiversity and other environmental crises. There could be social and economic challenges. With a rapidly growing population, there might be increased competition for jobs, housing and healthcare. This could lead to inequality, social unrest and political instability. Welcome to the chapter where we dive into possible solutions and strategies for achieving a balanced human beings and planet's sustainability. Let's start exploring these avenues. Support sustainable farming practices such as organic farming, agroforestry, that means regenerative agriculture can support biodiversity, water conservation, and invest in renewable energy sources like solar wind and hydroelectric power to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Promote energy efficiency measures in industries and buildings and transportation to further reduce environmental impact. This can reduce waste, using resources efficiently, supporting with eco-friendly products and adopting a circular economic adapt that minimizes resource use and waste generation. We have come to the final segment. Let's take a moment to reflect on what we discussed. To wrap things up, it's really important to think about how population growth affects our planet. When there are more people, we use more resources like water, food and energy. This can lead to problems like pollution, climate change and loss of wildlife. There's a good news. Each of us can make a difference by being mindful of how we use resources with recycling and supporting eco-friendly choices, we can help protect our planet. Together, we can create a healthier world for everyone. Thank you for joining me in today's episode. Hope to see you with a new topic. Bye bye.
