no trees no water
this might sound like a post-apocalyptic world but it could be the future of earth as we know it
we have nearly 8 billion people living on our planet and despite earth's best efforts to kill
us off with plagues earthquakes volcanoes and weather systems our population keeps growing
because of this the precious stores of life-giving elements on our planet are running low welcome to
fact nominal and today we'll take a look at 10 things the world is running out of
did you know that the earth loses 10 billion trees per year the yale school of forestry and
environmental studies has measured tree density across the globe and while we are not likely to
fully run out of trees for a few centuries we only have reduced the tree population by 50 since we
developed civilization of course some places are losing more than others and there has been quite
a focus on planting and maintaining trees each tree pumps out nearly 260 pounds of oxygen every
year and the older and more mature trees produce many times that number in the deepest forest
a 100 foot tree with a small 18 inch diameter base can put out 6 000 pounds of oxygen per
year we don't even want to consider what life may look like without this precious resource
one thing we all cannot live without are pollinators you might not think about them
often but those buggers mean all of us have food to eat throughout the day if they go extinct so
does our food supply of course the most well-known pollinators are bees while there are more than 20
000 different species of bees out there they are not the only pollinators we rely on
bats birds moths flies butterflies and beetles jump from plant to plant spreading life-giving
pollen a recent report suggests in some regions up to 40 percent of these insects and animals
are facing endangerment or extinction how can we help them well by creating more diversity
in habitats rotating crops decreasing pesticides and bringing awareness can make a big difference
another resource that takes eons to regenerate is oil our dependence on this substance to fuel
our world has led to many expert studies over the past 100 years we have panicked over running out
of oil several times yet every day people are out there pumping crude out of the ground so
what is the real story will we have to convert all of our fuel to other resources anytime soon
while we may be running low on easily accessible oil sources which helps keep fuel prices down we
will completely run out of oil in our lifetime the problem here is the oil will become increasingly
difficult to pump we will have to go deeper and that could cause a crisis for energy production
this is one of the many reasons scientists and engineers have been pushing for renewable energy
sources if oil companies have to pay more to dig oil up the cost will go directly to consumers
and many will no longer be able to afford it it is far more likely that
we will stop trying to unearth it before it is technically used up
the promotion of natural gas has peaked over the last decade or more as an alternative to
crude oil or coal however experts estimate that we could run out of this resource
in the next 84 years if we continue to tap into it at the same rate we're doing it now
could there be more out there much like crude oil there could be more pockets of natural gas out
there but what would it take to tap into those hidden stores and what cost would our planet
or population pay for such access once again it is a top reason to find easily renewable
energy sources for our planet and not to rely on expensive and dangerous options like natural gas
you would think that on a planet covered in water we wouldn't be so worried about running low on
this life-giving substance however only three percent of the water on earth is fresh water
and even less is accessible as drinking water so we could be on the edge of a crisis climate
change has affected how the water cycle works and drier areas of the planet are getting more extreme
on top of that the underground water storage or aquifers are running low
and have seen noticeable changes in the past few decades we're going to need scientists
engineers and technology to help pull us out of this smart grid management systems have
seen some success but these are not implemented globally yet while we may not run out of water
in our lifetime the work needs to be done now to ensure future generations can survive
energy demand has never been greater seven billion people require a lot of power to keep running
coal has long been a reserve for meeting this demand but we are running low on
this well established if not controversial resource if we continue to grow our need for
coal at the current rate we will run out of it by 2090. like natural gas and crude oil
it took the earth many millions of years to create and we are running through it as it can
just magically reappear the writing has been on the wall about this subject for a long time now
and capitalism is finally getting on board maybe there is reason to hope after all
it is right there in the name rare earth minerals they may be naturally occurring but they are not
renewable these minerals are being cultivated and used for the technology we use every day
like our smartphones some of the minerals include tantalum silver lithium gallium and indium
humans have also been mining these minerals to create batteries solar panels and even
electric vehicles it looks like we're trying to solve an energy problem and creating a new one
experts predict we could run out of them in the next 100 years
but there are many ways we could recycle and reuse previously mined minerals to sustain us for
we've been longer for thousands of years at this point in history
but we've never had to feed this large of a population before because of our need to
constantly cultivate produce we are seeing a decline in useful nutrient-rich topsoil
this has decreased our resource of phosphorus which is needed for fertilizer the wwf suggests
that we as a planet have lost about half of our topsoil in just the last 150 years sadly it can
take up to 500 years for a single inch of this soil to form on its own between climate issues
deforestation and erosion it may take some quick thinking to find alternative ways to increase our
top soil resources without outside interference we could run out of topsoil in about 60 years
while eating fish may be part of a healthy human diet we may have less
than 30 years left to enjoy them china alone catches 11.5 million tons of fish each year
that's 23 billion pounds or the weight of 14 375 fully loaded space shuttles this is changing the
ecosystem in the sea as predatory fish and mammals also rely on fish as their only source of food
also warmer waters are changing the environment's evolution and resiliency
and these changes can only work so fast within a species we can make an impact on increasing
fish production by protecting spawning habitats from invasive predatory species there have also
been huge efforts made to establish new reefs and protect the coral reefs that are in danger
for our last fleeting resource we look towards the heavens when you look towards the sky the
last thing you would think of is a cosmic traffic jam there are over 23 000 man-made objects over
4 inches in size orbiting the earth united states department of defense monitors the debris with the
space surveillance network this is a series of telescopes that help with the detection
tracking and cataloging of objects four inches across and larger out of the 8 000 satellites
that have been launched into orbit since 1957 only about 2000 are still actually functional
these dead satellites joined the herd of space litter traveling faster than a speeding bullet
at 23 300 miles per hour although rare serious collisions have occurred and should it happen more
frequently we could see major disruptions to our telecommunication systems here on earth that we
depend on every day scientists and engineers have their eyes on this problem but no solutions have
been found yet so what do you think are there any of these things that we can live without
tell us in the comments and if you enjoyed this video be sure to give it a like and
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