There are over 7 billion people alive at this very moment. There has never been that many people alive at once before. And we are paying the consequences of it. There are just not enough resources to sustain that many people. Even though we have some resources now, it does not guarantee that it will be here in the future.
Clean water is already hard to come by when you think about it. The Flint water crisis is still happening. The water in our rivers and streams are polluted by the waste of corporations and people just throwing their trash in it. In developing countries, some people drink or bathe in those waters because that's the only water they have. The water is so toxic people get horrible rashes, and most often than not, develop some form of cancer.
There's plastic in our oceans which fish consume, or other sea creatures get injured by. If we eat that fish, we then are consuming that plastic which is very harmful to our bodies. With water temperatures rising, coral reefs are dying, which leads to the death of marine life. Larger sea creatures are migrating to areas that they usually do not to stay in colder waters, which then affects that particular ecosystem. Oh and there's still plenty of oil slicks from previous oil spills.
Good food is hard to come by. Sure there is plenty of food in supermarkets but think about all of that farmland that is used to produce all of that food. In the near future, it may not be able to produce as much because of years of being overworked and doesn't contain as many nutrients to sustain growth. In addition, there are so many people who don't have access to those fresh veggies and fruits in supermarkets. Some people have to eat fast food because those are the only options around them, or they simply cannot afford to buy those healthier options.
Forests are being destroyed to make room for farmland, so there are fewer trees to make the air we breathe cleaner. The air you breathe is not clean, especially if you live in or near a city or any factories. Sometimes you have to travel far to the middle of nowhere to get that nice breath of "fresh air". Children in New England have higher rates of asthma than other places in the US because of air pollution that gets carried over from the wind currents in the Midwest.
Did you know that some countries (like Australia, the US, and China) are bringing back the coal industry? The industry that produces the dirtiest form of energy. The industry that is responsible for giving millions of workers some sort of respiratory issue or even cancer.
We have seriously fucked up our world. Global warming and climate change are very real and are happening. It is not a hoax. It is happening right now. What we have done to the environment is going to impact us, and already has. I don't know how soon things will go from bad to worse, but it will most likely be in my lifetime.
I will leave you with this Native American quote that I absolutely love and cannot stress enough: Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money.
