Global politics and current environmental condition

If we look at the current environmental condition of our planet there are only a handful of good things while on the other hand there is a bunch of different environmental issues that are constantly growing in size such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

Climate change is usually described by environmentalists as the No.1 environmental threat of our time. The magnitude and the global character of climate change are certainly two key things that give climate change the edge over other environmental issues. Not only that, ever-increasing climate change impact is also worsening other environmental issues such as pollution and biodiversity loss. World leaders are apparently still convinced that the best solution to tackle climate change is to remain ignorant about it. How else could you explain constant talks without any real step forward in agreeing the new climate deal? By individual interests perhaps? Well, isn't a fight against climate change global interest since climate change affects our entire planet? Not according to the world leaders and their difference in opinion.

It certainly looks like the world leaders are all blinded by the money, economy and politics. Or perhaps they do not want to look at our environment because they primarily associate green color with money instead of nature. The economy still heavily outweighs ecology. The best proof to this is the constant growth of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The countries are promising major cuts in emissions but so far we are seeing very little of it. The transition to renewable energy is very slow because fossil fuel lobbies still have too much power over politics.

Couple of years back when Obama was elected many people all across the globe expected the "green revolution" led by United States and new climate deal. The years are passing by but there is still no green revolution and there is also still no sign of new climate deal. The political promises have so far done very little for ecology and our environment in general.

Can we expect more “green politics” in years to come? The way things are currently going we could see more green politics only when climate change totally runs out of control. By then it will likely be too late for any political decision that could save us from total environmental disaster.

The fact that politics determines the destiny of our environment is a sad fact indeed but hey it is a sad world we live in.

Global water use – Quick facts

Water is the most important resource on our planet. Since the world population rapidly grows so does the water demand, especially with the increased urbanization in developing countries.

The researchers have calculated that the global water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of global population increase.

It is estimated that the global water use will increase by 50% by 2025 in developing countries, and close to 20% in developed world.

Climate change could have severe impact on global water use in form of more severe floods, droughts and shifts from past precipitation patterns. There is a lot of water on our planet but only 2,5% of total water on our planet refers to fresh water, two-thirds of which are frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. Irrigation is the largest fresh water user in the world by using around 70% of the planet's freshwater resources. Industry accounts for approximately 22%, and domestic use accounts for only 8%.

More than one billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water, which leads to different waterborne diseases and million of deaths each year. Desalination of the water may just be the solution to satisfy the ever-growing demand for water as the result of rapid global population increase. Science is already working on affordable and effective desalination solutions such as using different nanotechnology solutions.

Sustainable water management on global level is the best solution to tackle climate change and global population growth, the two main threats to future global water use.

The term water stress has been coined to describe the situations where there is not enough water for all uses, or in other words the situations where total water demand is bigger then the actual water supply.

Water pollution is already playing big role in global water use by decreasing the total amount of drinking water in the world, especially in the form of sewage disposal. The increasing water scarcity in some areas of the world could also become a source of future wars.