what is the most important environmental issue facing the world? and what do you...

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...think is the solution? Personally i think that climate change in the mountains is one of the most important environmental challenges of today because 50% of the worlds population relies non directly on mountains for water supply. Mountains supply the headwaters for the most important rivers in the indian subcontinent and southeast asia, and if these glaciers are reduced due to climate change then so is alot of the water for the growing poplations in these regions.

What are your ideas on this?
 
Overpopulation. That's the problem that causes all other problems.I guess the solution is unpleasant but it's war, famine and pestilence.
 
The exponential increase in the human population throughout the 20th century.

1900 1.5 billion
1960 3.0 billion
2000 6.0 billion
2008 6.8 billion

and continuing to expand at an ever increasing rate

The idea that we can house, clothe and feed so many people, and provide them with water, power, transport and employment, and at the same time, reduce out effects on the environment, just doesn't make sense.

In the study of population dynamics, there are three recognised factors that control populations.

starvation
disease
predation (war and crime are the human equivalents)

If we do not find an equitable political solution to population control, these natural factors will do it for us.
 
As the guy above me said the Human Population is indeed the biggest environmental issue facing the world. The world population could stabilize by the end of the 21st century, given family planning efforts that are currently underway. But population experts still project anywhere from 7.9 to 10.9 Billion people by the end of the 21st century (mainly depending on how quickly the fertility rate decreases). Can earth support so many people indefinitely? We need to feed a world population that will be considerably larger than the present one without destroying the biological communities that support us.

A solid way to look at any environmental problem and our effect on it is the IPAT equation.

-The number of people (P)
-The Affluence per person, which is a measure of the consumption or amount of resources used per person (A)
-The Environmental effects (resources needed and wastes produced) of the technologies used to obtain and consume the resources (T)

Environmental Impact (I)= P x A x T

If you look at any environmental problem humanity is mostly at fault, a very curious look at our effect is the book The World Without Us by: Alan Weisman in which he hypothesizes what would happen is humanity vanished, it is quite remarkable nature really start to take back over the planet and many issues are resolved.

In respect to your Mountain Climate Change, that is a major issue along with many others but what's fueling the climate change and need for more water?... growth of the human population.
 
what you're facing is a money, and a land formation problem.
California doesn't have enough water.
nor enough glaciers to store a whole year's supply.
so large dams have been built, that store more than a year's water supply.
india will probably do the same.
and there will be fights over environmental disruption, and land acquisition.
but the need for water will be more important.
i'd guess that once this is apparent, then the lower Himalayas will probably offer sufficient opportunity for such storage, but that's just a guess.

however, i agree that global warming is one of the two greatest threats to society today.
the other is the increasing availability of technology, and materials to build large weapons of mass destruction.
i'm afraid it's only a matter of time before someone bent on destruction gets their hands on such, and kills millions of people.
 
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