The Earth naturally recycles itself with its flora, providing everyone with a unique life on the planet and a healthy environment for all to thrive. However, pollution is causing significant changes on our planet.
We are witnessing and experiencing these environmental changes, which worry us, yet we find them acceptable, even as we come to terms with the fact that it now rains in winter!?
What will happen if we continue to transform our planet as we are currently doing without stopping? Will the planet be able to absorb all these pollutants, whatever they may be?
Where are we now in terms of the quality of life on our planet? Can we consider it as equal to our own home that we maintain and clean?
Now, who is responsible for making our planet cleaner? For maintaining it? Are we doing an adequate job? Is global pollution decreasing? Is money an obstacle to achieving this cleanliness?
How long will it take to clean the planet? Is it possible to remove all this pollution? Will we be trapped on a planet where polluted air and water can cause diseases?
We only need to go back to the early 1900s to observe the evolution of pollution caused by humans. We can easily imagine that the planet before 1900 (with 1.6 billion humans) was still relatively clean, not significantly altered from the dawn of civilization until 1900.
Starting in the 1900s, humans developed at a rapid pace thanks to fossil fuels. Factory work became the norm. Earning more money and buying goods instead of making everything oneself, as in the good old days, became common. Cities grew larger, and more people moved there for proximity and perceived quality of life.
As a result, cities became small pollution factories. Today, we can see what it’s like to live in one of these cities with such high levels of pollution; we can witness smog and people wearing masks.
We must not forget that all the pollution we’ve caused doesn’t disappear like magic. It remains present, continuing to accumulate and degrade in the environment, contaminating it more each time. Pollution is always present everywhere; it’s just hidden (buried) or invisible (as gases).
It's even worse because no one takes care of them; these are international waters that belong to everyone, yet to no one. The biggest losers are the marine animals, at the expense of humans.
Water contamination keeps increasing—but for how long?
Plastic upon plastic. Doctors advise us to eat wild fish at most once a week to avoid contamination from the many pollutants they ingest while growing in the waters.
Is this normal?
And that's not even counting all the land animals that are hunted for human expansion—whether for agriculture, housing, poaching for money—or those who die in their habitat due to waste from human pollution. How will animals, plants, and we, humans, survive?
Will there still be animals drinking contaminated natural water or eating plants that are no longer green? Will we be able to tell our children: “Giraffes, tigers, polar bears... you will never see them in real life. You will only see them in a book or a documentary because humanity killed them for its profit. You will never see them with your own eyes.”
Reference: Les Échos – source IUCN
Are they unlimited? How long before the planet is almost dry? When the planet is depleted, what will we be able to do and what will we be capable of doing?
Due to the lack of resources, what will happen to the planet? If the population continues to increase, will the planet be depleted of its resources more quickly?
Remember the first time you heard about pollution. The term "pollution" first appeared over 40 years ago, not a century, but a little over 40 years ago, with issues like acid rain and the ozone layer. While efforts have been made to restore the ozone layer, do you think we have done enough to address acid rain? Have acid rains decreased over these 40 years, or have they increased? Have we taken these warnings seriously over time?
These early red flags, which began to emerge and have intensified over time, clearly illustrate that the planet's environment is changing. If these warnings are increasing, it means more and more people are becoming concerned about the environment and noticing that the planet is sick. One thing is certain: every day, the planet becomes less beautiful due to this pollution.
In 1900, the planet was beautiful; in 2023, see for yourself. No matter what we do, we are caught in a spiral that is not slowing down. Our only option to slow down this pollution is to tackle it together, with 8 billion people.
Are we burying our heads in the sand, ignoring potential future dangers until they become urgent, like with cigarettes? “Take them, they’re good for your health!”
And when the day comes and we realize the consequences, what has happened? Hundreds of thousands of deaths, all for profit. Of course, only those who use these products can develop certain illnesses related to their use. For the planet, we know something disturbing is happening, known as climate change. It’s been over 40 years since the first warning signs appeared, and there’s no indication of a slowdown in human activity or pollution. How will we clean up the planet? Where do we start? How much will it cost? Who will pay? Who will make sacrifices to improve the quality of life for our children in the future?
One day, with all this pollution accumulating in the atmosphere, on the soil, and in the water, will it become harmful? Will we pull our heads out of the sand and act before hitting this wall? Will we continue to shift this responsibility onto others and pretend nothing is happening? Is it normal to breathe contaminated air, farm on soil receiving increasing acid rain, and see fish die due to our failure to clean up their habitats? What would our neighbor say if we dumped our waste on their property?
It degrades over time and contaminates the soil and groundwater. When landfill sites are full, new ones are created repeatedly, as the population continues to grow. Additionally, we clear more vegetation across the planet to expand agriculture and build more housing for an ever-increasing population.
What will happen if this flora decreases too much while the human population keeps increasing? Where will the animals go? Will we move to another planet? When there are almost no resources left on Earth, what will humanity do on an empty planet?
The water of the oceans is the source of all life on the planet. There is so much plastic and other materials in the oceans that marine animals are dying from it. We are already witnessing early mortality of these animals due to the presence of pollutants caused by humans. These enormous floating plastic islands have been gradually degrading over the past decades.
What will happen if we don’t remove them from the water and they continue to degrade? Will marine mortality increase? Is it due to excessively polluted water? How are we going to restore water quality in the oceans for the survival of aquatic species?
Moreover, we must recognize that already polluted oceans will not stop decontaminating themselves, as any form of pollution will end up there. It’s quite simple to understand: the water cycle, which is at the heart of Earth’s ability to sustain life.
It is through this cycle that water spreads across the planet, and it also serves as a conduit for pollutants. If we continue to pollute the oceans and kill all marine life, what will happen next?
What will animals drink? Acid rain water? Will they develop diseases due to pollution?
If we start cleaning up the planet to allow all forms of life to live in a healthy environment, how much will it cost? Do we have the necessary funds to make our planet cleaner? And how long will it take? Knowing that every day we produce more pollution than the day before, how can we clean the planet faster than we pollute it? Furthermore, cleaning the planet itself generates pollution! This is because we will use machinery (boats) powered by polluting fossil fuels, and it will take a lot of time given the immense size of these waste islands.
And once we have collected all this waste from the oceans, what will we do with it? Will we bury it or incinerate it, leading to more pollution? There is no magic solution; we need to dispose of this pollution somehow. How do we clean up without adding to the pollution?
And the cost...?
We need to find a way to reduce pollution while ensuring we have the resources and time to clean it up. If we succeed in cleaning up, where will we put this waste? We must remember that the planet is like under a glass dome! We cannot send this pollution into space, as it would be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, the upper atmosphere and space around the planet are already congested with debris from human satellites. We also cannot simply relocate to another planet.
We still have hundreds or even thousands of years before we might find another habitable planet and reach it. So, are we "chained" to our planet? Yes, for a very long time to come. Living on a clean and healthy planet would be ideal for future generations.
Time is running out because in just a hundred years, we have transformed a beautiful blue and clean planet into one where animals are dying from pollution or being exterminated due to the increase in human population. Endless deforestation and rising forest fires, fueled by climate change, are destroying vast areas of forest. We have created this era of pollution all for the sake of money.
The main culprits of a possible ecological disaster are us, humans. As we have seen, the more we spend money, the more the planet becomes polluted. How can we stop or slow down this pollution without causing even more?
Peace on Earth to
save the Earth.
My Home Earth
Peace on Earth to
save the Earth.
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