Perhaps nobody can deny that it’s getting too crowded here on Earth. In the last ten years, the global population has increased by about 1 billion people, for instance.
According to research conducted by the World Wildlife Fund, the human population exceeded the Earth’s capacity to sustain it in 1970, when the population was 3.5 billion people. Today, the population has grown to 8 billion, and this growth has had severe consequences for the planet’s wild plants and animals. Many species are running out of habitats and are facing a crisis of mass extinction, which is occurring on a scale not seen since the dinosaurs, as CBS News informs. This mass extinction is caused by a variety of factors, including habitat destruction, warming, and pollution. In the past 50 years, the abundance of global wildlife has declined by 69%, largely due to these issues.
We would need six Earths
Renowned biologist Paul Ehrlich has warned that humanity is unsustainable and that to maintain our current lifestyle for the entire planet, we would need five additional Earths. Ehrlich believes that the main drivers of this unsustainable situation are overpopulation, excessive consumption, and a focus on growth at all costs. He argues that these factors are leading to the destruction of biodiversity and the depletion of natural resources and that unless we take action to address these issues, we risk causing irreparable harm to the planet and its inhabitants.
It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of wild animals living on Earth, as it is constantly changing due to births, deaths, and migration. In addition, many species have not yet been discovered or classified, so it is likely that there are many more animals on the planet than we are aware of. Some estimates put the number of known species at around 8.7 million, while others estimate that there may be as many as 30 million or more. It is important to note that these estimates include all types of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Many species are facing the threat of extinction due to human activity and other factors.