Double trouble: ‘Population explosion is major cause of Earth’s problems’
Speakers highlight waste of resources on 45th Earth Day.
Discussing urbanisation, writer and teacher Noman Ahmed said that only the south of Sindh was urbanised.. PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT
KARACHI:
The first time Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, the global population was around 3.5 billion. Today, it has crossed seven billion people.
“We have doubled in number, which is a major problem and cause of damage to Earth,” said civil engineer, activist and professor Roland deSouza, addressing a seminar organised to mark the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, with the theme ‘Changing Lifestyles: Our Turn to Lead’, on Saturday. “People are consuming 50 per cent more than what their grandparents did; there has been a gigantic increase in materialism, with people wanting everything they see on their television screens.”
For DeSouza, the biggest resource that is being wasted every second is water. He claimed that at the time of Partition, Pakistan had 6,000 cubic metres of water per capita; today, it is down to only 1,000 cubic metres per capita. “Israel has only about 40 per cent of the resources that we do but it is doing better than us because they are working with strategy and planning,” he said.
Discussing urbanisation, writer and teacher Noman Ahmed said that only the south of Sindh was urbanised. “In the coming years, Karachi will not just be a city — it will be an urban region,” he said, sharing his view of how the construction of mega-projects such as Bahria Town and DHA City will affect the metropolis.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2015.
The first time Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, the global population was around 3.5 billion. Today, it has crossed seven billion people.
“We have doubled in number, which is a major problem and cause of damage to Earth,” said civil engineer, activist and professor Roland deSouza, addressing a seminar organised to mark the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, with the theme ‘Changing Lifestyles: Our Turn to Lead’, on Saturday. “People are consuming 50 per cent more than what their grandparents did; there has been a gigantic increase in materialism, with people wanting everything they see on their television screens.”
For DeSouza, the biggest resource that is being wasted every second is water. He claimed that at the time of Partition, Pakistan had 6,000 cubic metres of water per capita; today, it is down to only 1,000 cubic metres per capita. “Israel has only about 40 per cent of the resources that we do but it is doing better than us because they are working with strategy and planning,” he said.
Discussing urbanisation, writer and teacher Noman Ahmed said that only the south of Sindh was urbanised. “In the coming years, Karachi will not just be a city — it will be an urban region,” he said, sharing his view of how the construction of mega-projects such as Bahria Town and DHA City will affect the metropolis.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2015.