Here, you see the four spheres defining our planet’s climate. We can’t deny that we are modifying our natural habitat. The CO2 we emit from our transportation, energy use, and consumer goods production is changing the Atmosphere. All the Greenhouse Gases we produce make the ice sheets melt in the Cryosphere. The water we use excessively for our food production, but also for the things we buy such as mobile phones, influence the Hydrosphere. And our deforestation and removal of animal habitats for our houses, factories or crops impacts our Biosphere. With a birth rate rising to the predicted 10 billion by the end of this century, we sure need more food, cars and computer chips.

3 MINUTE LESSON ON CLIMATE CHANGE

We all need food and water to survive, but here is a paradox: We need a stable climate for agriculture. Agriculture produces 30% of the total Greenhouse Gases that influence the climate to more extreme weather events like drought. Hence, instable climate and devastated crops. We’re biting our own tail. And it's not only food we have to worry about. Read more about the six death causes of climate change that awaits us.

THE PARADOX

Take the land of the Earth and extract the Arctics, deserts, human activity areas (e.g. cities, transport ways, etc.), production areas for energy mining, protected areas and managed areas for timber production. The 40% land left is basically in use for agriculture. And here starts the race between needing more food and limited, degrading agricultural land. Nearly a billion of us is still under fed, while the ones that are getting wealthier want more food, more meat in their diets and enjoys to visit all-you-can-eat buffets. Do good and receive good is not our motto in growing crops. We are poisoning our soils with fertilizers, use more ground water for irrigation than nature can replenish and with emitting Greenhouse Gases cause more heat waves. High demand of food, more destroyed crops. That leaves us probably not much food left for our future.

DEATH CAUSE 1: STARVATION

Atmosphere

Hydrosphere

Cryosphere

Biosphere

Not for drinking, showering or flushing your toilet, but 70% of our fresh water is used for irrigation for agriculture. As read before, the ground water balance is in negative and we are not helping to keep it clean by using our fertilizers. More astonishingly, you might save eight liters of water by showering a minute less, but eating that cheeseburger sets you back at plus 6.000 liters. Take a microchip in your mobile phone that needs 72.000 liters for production, and don’t forget about the many cups of coffee drank by the engineer (100 liters for one cup) that designed them. “What are you talking about with no more water, the ice caps are melting right?” Yes, the fresh water stored under snow and in glaciers will end up in the sea. But to desalinate water it's very expensive and needs a lot of energy. Probably as much water is needed to produce energy that drives the desalination process. It does not seem that my tax money is going to some big desalination project right now, shall I worry?

DEATH CAUSE 2: DEHYDRATION

Do you have some respiratory health problems? You might be one out of the three billion others that have these issues due to Atmospheric Brown Clouds. These are produced by burning wood, as main energy source in underdeveloped countries, and by transportation (i.e. planes, cars, ships) in the richer ones. Nitrous oxide from fertilizers and methane from the degrading Arctic coastline

DEATH CAUSE 3: SUFFOCATION

I sometimes wonder if it is smart to drink milk from cows that are constantly breathing CO2 from our cars  that drive by the high way next to the grass land. Or eat the fish from the ocean that probably have eaten the plastic we put in there. Even without use of any additional hormones or chemical pesticides, what does organic food production actually mean? More people equals more food needed. As almost all land is already taken for agriculture, we will need different methods like using lots of chemicals to fertilize and to kill fungal diseases and pests. Or genetic modification. You are what you eat, so messing around with my food, where does it leave me?

DEATH CAUSE 4: GENETIC MODIFICATION

and thawing of Tundra areas are far more toxic gases than CO2. Nature has done us a favor by letting plants and oceans absorb half of our CO2 emission. The other 50% stays in the atmosphere. Keep on cutting down our trees for a football stadium or a skyscraper is just dumb. Because simply with too much CO2 in the air, plants, animals and humans just die.

We can’t seem to agree upon the 2 degrees Celsius cap on temperature rise and it’s looking like it is going towards the average of 4 degrees. This basically means that the frequency of floods, droughts, heat waves, fires will increase. Most of the world’s largest cities are based in coastal areas. It is fine when you have a large arc built, but most of us will be left with a recreational rubber boat. And when there is more people on the planet, there will be less space between them. The speed that diseases can travel will be tremendous. Living below sea level I should probably move, but where to?

DEATH CAUSE 5: DISASTER

Before cows were our pets, humans were forced to travel due to climate change. When there is no food or water, you pack up your stuff and go find another spot. But what shall we do now? After a heat wave destroyed the crops in Russia in 2010, they have put an embargo on grain. Other countries depending on these would have to pay up and the supply would be limited. This would mean less food to no food for the poor and people

DEATH CAUSE 6: WAR

And yet, I agree that it is hard to imagine all of these and not to get depressed if you can. Paying my bills, choosing a new dress and what to eat for dinner tonight are my daily worries. More worrisome, governments and big corporates don’t seem to care to make me aware of what is going to happen to me and my future children. I haven't bumped into a bill board saying "Consume less, save your kids", yet. Are we procrastinating or do we really have no idea how to prevent this from happening? If it's the latter, let's see if we're lucky...

 would want to move to more fertile countries. Then add the people that had to watch how their house burnt down by fires or washed away by massive waves. Imagine the enormous migration crises we would experience for plain survival in a world with declining food production and drought. Do we really want to see how Darwin’s law works on humanity?