Posted: Mon 17 August, 2009 10:30:54 Post subject:
When scientists scan the global horizon, over-fishing, loss of species habitat, water shortage, climate change, and invasive① species seem to be the biggest threats to the Earth.
What will our world be like in 2050?
Population decrease and increase
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There are two features in the growth of world population. First, the annual increase in population in 15 European countries, in the past few years, has been only 300,000. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, the population of European countries will decrease from the current 0.72 billion to 0.63 billion. Second, the population in developing countries is growing rapidly. Over the past 50 years, the rate of increase in population has been fastest in the least developed countries. By 2050, the population of Africa is expected to reach 1.8 billion, 0.9 billion more than its current population.
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Global warming
A recent research report indicates that it is quite possible that the Earths temperature is rising well above the previous estimate. Such an result would have severe consequences.
A research team from the University of Colorado used satellite data to estimate that the ice sheet will lose up to 48 cubic miles by 2050. In comparison, a city with the size of Los Angeles uses one cubic mile of fresh water every year. Ice shelves in the Antarctic will have decreased by more than 7,200 square miles in the next four decades.
Water shortage
archlord gold
Africas rivers face dramatic change that will leave a quarter of the continent severely short of water by the middle of the century.
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In those areas where there is already a water shortage, its going to have a devastating② effect, the study says. If youre already walking 5 km to the nearest stream to get water, by 2050, its going to mean walking 30 km or moving your whole household closer to the water source.
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Four wheels good, four wheels bad
The car has transformed the lives of people, but the planet is paying too high a price. Today there are 620 million private cars worldwide, to say nothing of buses, vans and lorries. With current growth trends, that number is expected to reach a staggering③ three billion cars worldwide by 2050.
If we continue to burn fossil fuels at current rates, levels of carbon dioxide④ in the atmosphere will reach 550 ppm (parts per million) by around 2050. This will increase global temperatures between 1.4 and 4.8℃ by 2050, and sea levels will rise between 0.09 and 0.78 meters.
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