Outside looking in

Planet earth. A smallish planet, roughly 147-152 million Kilometres from it's life supporting star, affectionately called the -The Sun. The planet has a thick atmosphere, protecting it from harmful light rays as well as bombardment from rocks, called meteors and other foriegn things. A perfect planet for life.

It has been for millions of years. Life has come and gone, changed dramatically over the millennia, from the most simple single celled beings to the most advanced being that has come forth from the planet-the human being, or otherwise known as Homo Sapiens.

Now, in isolation, humans are a unique, resilient, quick learning species which has a strong will to survive and has progressed from adapting to the environment to adapting the environment to suite them. Their large brains, unequaled on the planet, have allowed them to move from tools made of sticks and stones, to massive self moving and self working mechanical tools. They have built massive building and residences.
These amazing beings have even managed to place one of their own on the earth's natural satelite, The Moon. From stick and stones, their weaponary moved to swords and bows and arrows and then further to guns, tanks, planes, missiles. Taken a step further, they now have unmanned fighting machines. And of course they have harnessed the technology that has has allowed them to make weapons that could make them extinct.

The problem though, is as advanced as they may seem, there are many problems. Firstly, the technology that has been created to assist them, produces by -products that are not only harmful to the humans, but to the entire planet on which they live. You see, humans do not live in isolation, but have millions of other organisms and species that share their planet. As the more intelligent species, they have established a dominance that is unrivalled.

There is no argument that this species places themselves and their own needs, well above that of any other organism on earth. Because of this, the state of their planet is in dire straits. The industries that they have developed, the combustable engines that power their vehicles, the processes of their manufacturing, the fossil fuel burning power stations, all produce large amounts of gases. These include harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Benzene to name but a few. Then there is also ash and soot to go with this. Research by their medical scientists have proved that this pollution has directly contributed to a severe increase in respiratory diseases. However, the human desire to produce money over-rides any health risks that they may face.

There are further worrying factors as well. You see, their polpulation is also exploding. It already stands at some 6,7 billion and is growing at some 1-2% per annum. To support this growing population, it stands to reason that more and more land will be required both for living and for producing the resources they need to survive. This inevitably means the reduction of land that has been untouched, like wetlands and forests.
Both have a major role to play on the planet, and for the benifit of homo-sapiens. In short- wetlands help reduce the volumes of water in flooding conditions as well as the flood-height, by taking in this water. It is estimated that one acre of wetland, can hold 5,6 million litres of water. They also reduce the need for expensive flood control structures. Further to this, wetlands act as wonderful natural filters for all types of waste.
Forests are the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale much needed oxygen. (The gas required for all mammals on earth, including humans, to survive). Forests also regulate the flow of water in flooding as well as protect the soil from dreaded erosion. In addition, they absorb about 30% of the man made carbon dioxide, further helping in cleaning up our air quality.

Deforestation is claiming some 20 000 hectres (about 49 400 acres) of forest per day- that is an area twice the size of Paris. More than 50% of the world's wetlands have been drained- used for development or just gone to waste. The number of animal and plant species going extinct is frightening.
The industrial nations have begun to try to rehabilitate wetlands and increase the forest areas, but the developing nations are still in a negative spiral. What is a worry, is that trees do not sprout up, but grow slowly,  sometimes resulting in them being chopped down at a very young age.

Water is a resource that covers the largest area of this little rock in the solar system. Having said that, it is estimated at less than half a percent of the water is available for human consumption. The frozen ice sheets at the poles and Greenland, make up most of the fresh water, but it is unavailable for use at the moment.
Of the remaining fresh water, some 90% is found in ground water, which the humans use for their water requirments, drinking irrigation etc. Once again, the human need for resources, exceeds the rate in which it replenishes, and the water table is dropping fast. Adding to this, the humans have a habit of burying their waste, be it chemicals, toxins or radio -active material. These pollutants then enter the water table, tainting it. This results in widespread poisoning of humans, animals and plantlife.

This planet, cannot create water. It is not a renewable resouce. The life on earth rely on a delicate process called the Hydrologic cycle, which involves the atmosphere and the earth, to keep the water clean.

Due the the demand for food by this ever growing human population food resources are already strained. The oceans cannot sustain the fish requirements and overfishing is going to result in earth's oceans being dead of fish life. This will lead to dire consequences for life on land.
Food demand also results in the need for larger land requirements used to grow or manufacture food stuff. Poor farming methods in Africa and the greed of leaders, have allowed fertile land to turn to desert, resulting in drought and famines. Africa cannot sustain life in isololation in this context. Yet it is the continent with the largest population growth. This is why, it relies on the rest of the world for most of it's food requirements. But, as the world's population increases, the developed nations may be strained themselves to supply their own people's needs. They may not be able to spare any for other nations in times to come.

As stated before, this suprior species has hit a population of almost  7 billions people, and at this rate, 10 billion is not far off. Many studies estimate that 10 billion is a threshold figure. A figure at which the planet will be at it's limit in terms of resources and space. One would think that a species with so much apparent brain power, a species that has accomplsihed so much in it's relatively short existence, a species that places it's survival above all else, would react strongly to the obvious warning signs. To an extent it seems they have- to an extent. They have made laws, set standards, made moves in the right direction- but in reality, this is more word play than really effective. The damage not only has to be stopped, but largely undone. This will come at a cost though. The humans still spend more money on defence than they do on conservation.
Economy is still placed above the future of the planet, and thus, the human race. These beings fail to realise, without a planet, they cannot be. The very thing that sets them aside from other species on the planet, their intelligence, will in the long run, lead to their ruin.

Looking down on earth with a sad sigh, one must be thankful that their technology does not allow humans to invade other planets yet.