Its not just warming!

The warming of the planet is not the only problem that we are experiencing - some others are:

Biodiversity

The current rate of species extinction is very high, much of it due to mankind's activities. The current extinction rate is between 100 to1,000 times greater than normal. ^{Note 1 Note 2} Some say 10,000! As habitats shrink and disappear, so more and more creatures and plants find that the environment necessary to their survival is no longer available. The species goes into decline and ultimately vanishes, at least from the wild. As "guardians" of the planet, we should consider it very unethical to put our own short term interests in front of the future generations' long term interests and the interests of life that cannot fight back. Sadly, we don't. A disturbing fact is that we are almost certainly causing the extinction of species we are unaware of - in law ignorance is no excuse but here it seems to be so.

Apart from ethical considerations is the fact that much of our modern medicine derives from natural plant extracts; a reduced biodiversity damages the possibility of creating new medicines - so there is a selfish reason to look after things.

Hit here to view lists of endangered species

Waste

There is a huge waste problem which will only get worse. Think about this - if everything were recyclable, it is evident that two conditions would apply:

• It is unlikely that everything (if anything) will be 100% recyclable - some waste is inevitable
• Even if 100% recyclability exists, energy is required to recycle the material

So, even with recycling, useful resources, virgin or otherwise, will reduce and vanish in a closed system. By a closed system, this means with no external sources of materials or energy. Ultimately, any closed system will grind to a halt; the question is how long. The projected life of the Earth is defined by that of the Sun, all other catastrophes being discounted, and for all practical purposes at present, this is an infinitely long time away; it is certainly many millions of generations of people.

Considering the Earth as such a system, ignoring the Sun and Moon, the total mineral resources available to us are in a thin layer, the crust, of the planet. This is a deceptively small part of our home.  The only energy is based on burning fossil fuels, themselves stored solar energy from millions of years ago. These resources have two problems: They are limited and they pollute, upsetting the climate of Earth. Burning the fuels releases waste gases into the atmosphere, another thin layer, and into the ground and water.

It is clear that, in the absence of new fossil deposits being made, there is a limit to how much fossil fuel is recoverable, then it's gone.

The good news is that we have the Sun pouring energy onto Earth, and the Moon's gravity also creates usable energy through the tides of the sea. As such, we have a limited amount of solar energy available, but this will last as long as the Solar System exists; for practical purposes, an infinitely long time away. All weather is a function of Solar power -  it is the energy of the Sun which produces wind and rain, and which also produces fuel resources like wood. Flora and fauna may be thought of as stored solar energy, in fact. The food chain for all ultimately leads to the consumption of plant-life, which is solar powered. The Earth is not, then, a closed system, which is lucky for us!

So, using current solar energy (in it's widest sense), we could have enough energy available, so lets look at minerals and waste. Waste may be defined as "that which is no longer considered as having a use". Waste is not necessarily defunct stuff - look at the old TVs and PCs disposed of - they still work, most of them. 

So, waste is a societal thing - we choose it to be waste and industry is set-up for that paradigm. Are you generating too big a part of the millions of tonnes of waste piling up around us? We are all part of the problem, but we are all part of the solution, too.

Waste or Raw Material? A problem with disposal taxes is the encouragement of fly-tipping. Apart from being illegal and an eyesore, such tipping is dangerous to wildlife.

In the UK new packaging legislation means that you can't just chuck it away. Why would you want to? You paid for it - you might as well throw away money. Packaging aside, a phenomenal amount of waste is generated every year - all representing the consumption of valuable and finite resources. In the UK, about a tonne per year per person. That means YOU.

Think - in nature, there is no waste.