CONSUMPTION
Population 2010: 6.7B; Population 2050: 9.4B
Environmental destruction is what happens when industry takes advantage of natural resources with systems designed for fast profit and rapid production. Fossil fuels will simply never be clean and sustainable. Similarly, textiles or food produced using crops grown with genetically modified seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides threaten all living things.
Humanity's demand on nature, our Ecological Footprint, now exceeds the planet's regenerative capacity by 30%, according to a World Wildlife Federation report. The report also states that by 2030, we will need two planets to keep up with our consumption of natural resources.
Populations of many species have fallen by about a third over the past thirty years largely because of human threats like population, deforestation and over fishing.
Humans are next on the endangered species list if we don't move swiftly to curb our consumption.
Clean, cost-effective alternatives already exist and NOW is the time we must put them to use ... for the sake of survival.
"Success requires that we manage resources on nature's terms and at nature's scale. This means that decisions in each sector, such as agriculture or fisheries, must be taken with an eye to broader ecological consequences. It also means that we must find ways to manage resources across our own boundaries — across property lines and political borders — to take care of the ecosystem as a whole."
James P. Leape
Director General
World Wildlife Fund International