A self Destructive Species
Humans- formed about 200,000 years ago: dominates out of the 5 million species of our planet
Reason: Overpopulation, by no predators as compared to insects and longer life span
Many advancements gone through; health, industrial, agricultural revolutions; Life expectancy reduced, Infant Mortality rate reduced and Income levels increased
Overpopulation leads to demand of basic resources; food, water and shelter
Food- expected to double by the end of 2050; yet production expected to decline over the years
Enough food not produced to meet the requirement of 1 meal per day of the present population
Water- Only 1% is consumable, rest is salt water; yet we waste and pollute it by various ways
Average water consumed by a person in household is 100 litres
Hidden water- water consumed in manufacturing everyday commodities; Ex: Cup of coffee contains about 100 litres of water, Jeans pant contains 7000 litres and etc
Plastic water bottle requires 4 litres of water- Irony
Land- to occupy the growing population; Forests cleared to expand cities
People are shifting from rural to urban areas for better earnings
Accumulation of population in urban areas leading to shortage of resources
Overconsumption- with resources in proximity for a certain group of individuals
Not just done by those who have more money, is also done by every commoner
For ex: Bucket and Shower comparison
Climate change- Caused by various human activities such as deforestation, vehicle emissions and factory emissions etc.
A silly cause; Livestocks contribute for 18% in the total greenhouse gases emitted
Reason: More CO2 produced by digestion and Methane gas also released by the cow dung; livestock also require more croplands for their food and more water than an normal individual
If one person stops eating beef in the US for one year; 90% reduction in the croplands, 94% reduction in the greenhouse gases emitted by livestocks and 93% reduction in the nitrogen fertiliser used.
Effects: Melting of ice caps, formation of tropical cyclones, global warming, ozone depletion, nitrogen cycle disruption, acid raining, etc.
Acidification of ocean fastened up due to increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere
Prediction- Amazon forest, which supplies upto 20% of the oxygen demand of the planet, also called the lungs of the Earth, may turn into a desert or a savannah in the years to come
Waste production- Byproducts produced by the human activities which is unusable is referred to as waste
Research: A human produces more waste than his/her own mass every week, which means we are producing on an average 480 billion kgs of waste every week all around the world, most of which is non-biodegradable, that is they don’t decompose or rot down.
The waste which is present on the planet is already more than the mass of all the living beings combined, that means more space is occupied just to accomodate the waste
Vehicles- required for transport of people and resources
Already about 1.4 billion cars are on the planet, meaning one in every 8 person has a car
Causes air and noise pollution, also space gets used up in the form of traffic
Even fuel based cars replaced with electric cars, materials for their production would be required, traffic not subjected to change much and electricity is obtained from thermal power plants, thus pollution would still remain
Materials- Fossil fuels are liable to deplete soon; Coal has another 130 years, petroleum and natural gas have another 50 years
Other metals like copper, tin, silver and especially iron and aluminium are also about to get depleted soon
Competition- resources are confined to specific areas, for ex: Oil is especially found in the Arab region
Conflict theory, given by Karl Marx, says that people would compete with each other for limited availability of resources
Already evident from the case of wars, like the one going between Russia and the world.
Self damage- People affect their own bodies by smoking, drinking, drugs etc
Promoted by films though an insignificant warning is given
So, now can our planet be saved?
I think our planet has gone well beyond the level to be saved and are already lead us to our extinction
Only thing we can do is delay the extinction by working together for the saving of our environment
Everyone can make minor contributions for a major change in the future,
Thank you.
The event was well organized and perfectly managed by the school. It was a very good opportunity for myself to improve my speaking skills and also to lower my stage fear. Many children of all classes had performed well, which was nice to see and hear. The event was informative for both the parents and the students, who had prepared for the event. The opportunity to present a speech before a TED talker was absolutely rare and awesome, and has given me high hopes for my future.