State of our world: some facts — Part 2

If you haven’t read the first part of this article yet, you should! We focused on air pollution, plastic pollution, marine pollution and biodiversity.

As a reminder, the purpose of this article is to bring together all these facts into one consolidated list, grouped into categories. Enjoy!

Water:

● Less than 3% of the world’s water is fresh (drinkable), of which 2.5% is frozen in Antarctica, the Arctic and glaciers. And humans are misusing and polluting water faster than nature can recycle and purify water from rivers and lakes.

● Severe water scarcity affects about 4 billion people, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, for at least one month each year.

● Agriculture is by far the largest consumer of water, accounting for 70% of annual water withdrawals worldwide.

Waste:

● Regarding waste, 5.2 tonnes were generated per EU inhabitant in 2018.

● 38.5% of waste was landfilled and only 37.9% was recycled in the EU in the same year.

● In 2018, the total waste generated in the EU by all economic activities and households amounted to 2 337 million tonnes.

● Each year, an estimated 11.2 billion tonnes of solid waste are collected worldwide and the decomposition of the organic part of solid waste contributes to about 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy:

● The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.

● In 2019, the electricity sector was the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for 25 per cent of the US total.

● The IEA estimates there are 785 million people without access to safe, reliable electricity and 2.6 billion people who lack non-polluting cooking facilities while energy demand is expected to increase by 50% by 2050.

● According to Our World in Data, global greenhouse gas emissions from energy (electricity, heat and transport) account for 73.2%.

● Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector have more than doubled since 1970, with around 80% of this increase coming from road vehicles.

● Currently, the transport sector is almost completely dependent on fossil fuels. It contributes approximately one quarter of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.

Fashion:

● The fashion industry produces close to 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and the apparel and footwear industries account for a combined estimate of 8% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

● A McKinsey report published in 2016 revealed that three-fifths of all clothing items will end up in an incinerator or landfill within a year after being produced.

● It’s estimated that less than 1 percent of the material used to produce clothing is recycled into something more. That’s a loss of around 100 billion USD worth of materials every year.

● Production of textiles uses over 3,500 different chemicals.

Burn out:

● Gallup surveyed about 150,000 people worldwide in 2018. More than half of Americans — 55% — noted significant stress at work. The global average was 35 percent.

● In a 2016 study, researchers from Harvard Business School and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business estimated that workplace stress contributes to 120,000 deaths each year. This stress costs US companies up to $190 billion in health costs alone.

● In France, the burn-out rate has doubled in one year, peaking at 2 million people suffering from severe burn-out

● The indicators of the psychological state of employees are worrying, with 44% of employees in psychological distress (-1 point compared to March 2021), including 17% in great distress (identical), according to a survey conducted by Empreinte Humaine.

Food:

● Since 2005, obesity has been a greater risk factor for death than children being underweight worldwide.

● The British Food Journal published a research on fruit and vegetables’ mineral content, illustrating that that several mineral concentrations have severely dropped. For example, the average content of calcium in vegetables has declined to 81 percent of the original level, 50 years earlier.

● The State of the World’s Forests 2016 reports that commercial agriculture generated almost 70% of deforestation in Latin America between 2000–2010.

● Food production is responsible for a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and livestock & fisheries account for 31% of food emissions.

This non-exhaustive list is a window into the damage caused by man on the planet.

For more information on climate change and the origin and effects of greenhouse gases, we recommend the article “The Three Most Important Graphs in Climate Change” by Jonathan Foley on Medium.

If you are interested in calculating your own carbon impact you can visit the Global Footprint Network website. This tool shows you how many planets would be needed if everyone lived exactly as you do.

Which facts did you discover? Which one did you find the most surprising? Don’t hesitate to comment and to add your sources!