Overpopulation on this planet has become a leading problem that worsens the other mentioned issues. With the number of people on Earth increasing each day, making the land usable or fertile is necessary.
However, more concrete being placed on the Earth to provide shelters and housing for more people leads to the loss of natural habitats. In addition, the buildup of waste in landfills causes an increase in the urban heat island effect, a large temperature difference between urban and rural areas.
According to Trevor Branch, an environmental scientist at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, “Right now, we have four billion people living on a quarter of the planet’s land area.
That’s not good for our natural world. We have just 600m hectares globally to support them – it’s not enough. So we are in an ecological deficit.”
