Powerful Images Show The Terrible Effects Of Overpopulation

There are more than seven billion souls now alive on Earth – and the planet is suffering. An environmental NGO Global Population Speak Out has produced a photo book documenting the planets woes, called "Overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Overshoot". The somewhat unique angle of the book is that many of the problems are tied to the population boom.

To put it bluntly, more people means more consumption, more trash, and more pollution. Land has to be prepared for farming and resource extraction, clearing away forests and nature. Trash famously finds its way out of the overflowing garbage collection dumps and into nature. And, of course, the infrastructure supporting our lives can have it‘s own accidents, like oil rig fires and oil spills, and rivers polluted with factory run-off.

Global Population Speak Out strives to spread awareness about the issues arising from overpopulation and consumerism. Their leading suggestions include emancipation of women, as well as wider access to education – both measures that would lead to falling birthrates. General activism and awareness rising is important, too, to bring the message to those who do not know about the world‘s problems.

To see our post on environmental troubles plaguing China, press here. The see street artist speak out against the destruction of the environment, check out our post here.

More info: populationspeakout,org | Amazon | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest (h/t: boredpanda.es)

Surfing a wave of trash near Java (Indonesia), the most populous island in the world.

National Willamette forest, Oregon (USA), 99% deforested

Yellow river in Mongolia: so polluted, it's almost impossible to breathe near it

Ken River oil field, California (USA), in exploitation since 1899

 

Fire at oil platform in Gulf of Mexico, April 2010

Landscape full of trash in Bangladesh

Indonesian forest, now transformed into palm plantation

Amazonian jungle (Brazil), burned down to be "repurposed"

Tagebau Hambach strip mine (Germany), where world's biggest excavator Bagger 288 extracts coal

Landfill in Accra (Ghana): electronic trash ends up in Third-World countries.

Mexico City (Mexico), 20 million inhabitants

Midway Islands (North Pacific), albatross that died from consuming plastic trash

Almeria (Spain), a landscape of greenhouses

Zone rich in tar in Alberta (Canada), affected by mining and toxic waste

Maldives (Indian ocean), the rising water levels will engulf it by 2050

Mir mine (Russia), world’s biggest diamond mine.

Svalbard (Arctic Ocean), a giant glacier is melting