THE 3 BIGGEST ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS WE ARE FACED AS HUMANITY

What are the 3 biggest environmental problems that we as humanity face in 2022?

Climate crisis

Global warming is perhaps the biggest environmental problem we as humanity face and at the same time the one we turn a blind eye to the most. The global temperature increase is currently around 1.1°C. Doesn't that seem like a little? Such an increase in temperature means that weather phenomena such as storms, floods, hurricanes, heat waves and droughts associated with large fires are becoming more intense, more frequent and occurring in places where they were not common until now. Scientists warn that even if we immediately stopped all greenhouse gas emissions, the global temperature would continue to rise. And the later we reduce emissions, the more disastrous the consequences are.

Deforestation and the loss of biodiversity

Imagine that every hour on our planet, forests the size of approximately 300 football pitches are cut down. If deforestation does not stop, it will take 100 years for the forests to disappear completely. The main cause of deforestation is agriculture, which is also connected to another, very sad statistic. Right now, right before our eyes, the sixth mass extinction of wildlife is happening. There are more than 500 species of land animals on the verge of extinction, which are likely to disappear completely within 20 years.

Plastic pollution

While in the 1950s „only“ around 2 million tons of plastics were produced per year, the most recent data indicates the production of more than 400 million tons of plastics per year. If we take into account the fact that approx. 90% of plastics are not recycled at all and that a plastic bottle can take up to 450 years to decompose, we get at least an approximate idea of how our planet is „infested“ with plastics at the moment and what prospects we have for the future. To illustrate, scientists estimate that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.

Plastic pollution is one of the reasons why we brought canned water to market. A can made of aluminium can be recycled indefinitely without losing its quality. And even more importantly, aluminium is not only recyclable, but mainly recycled. It is a valuable commodity, so the recycling rate reaches up to 70%, which makes aluminium one of the most recycled materials on our planet.