One million plant and animal species risk extinction, largely due to human activities. These are issues the world cannot lose sight of even as we tackle the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing climate crisis. The theme for World Environment Day, 5 June 2020, is biodiversity — a call to action to combat the accelerating species loss and degradation of the natural … [Read more...]
Humanity must save insects to save ourselves
Humanity must save insects, if not for their sake, then for ourselves, a leading entomologist has warned. “Insects are the glue in nature and there is no doubt that both the [numbers] and diversity of insects are declining,” said Prof Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. “At some stage the whole fabric unravels and then we will really see the … [Read more...]
The link between overpopulation and the environment
As we prepare to mark World Population Day, 11 July, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), champion of conservation in Africa, draws attention to the link between human population and the environment. The global human population is now more than 7.5 billion people. The United Nations estimates that this number will be nearly 9.8 billion by 2050 – this is 30% higher than it is … [Read more...]
6 Ways to beat plastic pollution this World Environment Day
5 June marks World Environment Day, a day recognised by over 143 countries who are concerned with the protection of our environment. First held in 1974, World Environment Day has been a flagship campaign for raising awareness on emerging environmental issues from marine pollution, human overpopulation, and global warming, to sustainable consumption and wildlife … [Read more...]
An uncertain future for our living blue planet
A new report on the health of the ocean finds that the marine vertebrate population has declined by 49 percent between 1970 and 2012. WWF’s Living Blue Planet Report tracks 5,829 populations of 1,234 mammal, bird, reptile, and fish species through a marine living planet index. The evidence, analyzed by researchers at the Zoological Society of London, paints a troubling … [Read more...]
7.3 million underage girls give birth every year
On World Population Day, Friday 11 July 2014, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) reflected upon the links between human population growth and the impacts that this has on our environment, and how declining environmental health affects marginalised and poor communities the most. The first World Population Day was marked on 11 July 1987; the day the United Nations estimated … [Read more...]
Small farmers’ loss of land increases world hunger
The world is increasingly hungry because small farmers are losing access to farmland. Small farmers produce most of the world's food but are now squeezed onto less than 25 percent of the world's farmland, a new report reveals. Corporate and commercial farms, big biofuel operations and land speculators are pushing millions off their land. "Small farmers are losing land at … [Read more...]
Earth Overshoot Day: we are now in ecological deficit
Last week we reached Earth Overshoot day, and in a blog post for LiveScience.com, World Wildlife Fund chief scientist John Hoekstra explains just how big we're really living: "August 20, 2013 marked Earth Overshoot day - the estimated date when the people on Earth have used up the planet's annual supply of renewable natural resources and reached its carbon-absorbing … [Read more...]
Less than ¼ of us understand climate change threats
How aware, concerned and active are South Africans about climate change and how does this compare to Europeans and Americans? Who is the good, the bad and the ugly in this unfolding story? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) climate change takes 150 000 casualties every year and will flood around 100 million people by the end of the century. What’s more though, … [Read more...]
Calls for $700 billion in sustainable infrastructure
As the global population expands to 9 billion by 2050, we are set to spend trillions of dollars on supporting infrastructure that is likely to damage our climate. The good news is that spending more up front on making that infrastructure sustainable will pay off in the long run and provide new growth opportunities. That's the conclusion reached by a group of multinational … [Read more...]
Goals & actions for a sustainable future
With less than one month to Rio+20, the next round of negotiations between governments to forge the outcome document for the major global conference on sustainable development took place late last month at the United Nations from 29 May to 2 June. This latest round was added to provide negotiators with an additional opportunity to move talks forward in an effort to finalize … [Read more...]
Robust water strategies essential in this desertifying world
GlobeScan (an international public and stakeholder opinion research firm) and SustainAbility, (a think tank and business strategy consultancy) have recently conducted a survey poll on Water and listed the 19 best solutions to the global freshwater crisis from their findings. This survey was conducted in more than 80 countries. Some 1,200 influential thought leaders from … [Read more...]
Top 50 Sustainability Books
Green Drinks Cape Town shares their top 50 sustainability books: 1 A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold (1949) 2 Silent Spring Rachel Carson (1962) 3 Unsafe At Any Speed Ralph Nader (1965) 4 The Population Bomb Paul L. Ehrlich (1968) 5 Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth R. Buckminster Fuller (1969) 6 The Limits to Growth Donella H. Meadows, … [Read more...]
