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The Drying Well

Loren Eisley was once quoted, “if there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” It is one of the few things that almost all known life needs to function, can be found on every continent and is one of the first things that scientists look for when trying to find life in outer space. Water is one of the most vital resources of our planet. And yet water scarcity in on a global rise.

The Blue Planet

Earth is the Blue Planet. Over 70% of Earth’s surface is covered with water. However,  a lot of this water is not of great use to us, the water that sustains the majority of life is fresh water, and this is much harder to find, only 3% of the world’s water is fresh and a lot of this is not accessible, locked away in glaciers and ice shelves. Now, there is no less and no more water than there ever has been on Earth, water scarcity is not a system in which there is less water but less access to useable water. Water scarcity involves changes in the distribution of water, the number of people accessing and using fresh water and pollution making fresh water sources unusable.

Quite simply the more people using a resource the less there is to share. Think of it as having a single bottle of water. If there is one person drinking from that bottle it lasts a lot longer. If there are five people the water runs out a lot faster and not everyone gets enough. The global human population has been increasing since the 1300s and has boomed within the last hundred years, however the amount of available water has not increased. So, going back to that bottle analogy you now have 7.7 billion people drinking, bathing, growing food and manufacturing goods from the water out of that one bottle.

Rubbish in the Lakes and Trash in the Sea

Pollution is only making this worse, as water pollution levels increase the amount of available fresh water decreases.  You can’t drink water sources contaminated with factory run off, garbage, sewage  and pesticides. Climate change can increase the severity of water scarcity, with changes in weather patterns changing the amount and location of rainfall on certain areas. Modern agricultural practices such as growing crops in unnatural areas, water consumption in factory production and high product consumption rates are causes of water scarcity in many regions with underground aquifers drained at a rapid rate.

Water is a vital resource for life and as water scarcity increases many experts believe that conflict over water resources will spark the wars of the future. Some companies and individual brokers are already purchasing water rights, claiming that water will become the new gold within their lifetime.

The Last Drops of Water in a Thirsty World

Water scarcity is already beginning to impact many populations, with over four billion people living in an area that experiences water scarcity at least once every month. The World Economic Forum has listed water scarcity as potentially one of the largest global risks. By 2040, one in four children are predicted to be living in an area of high water stress. These regions will include major cities such as Melbourne, Sao Paulo, Beijing, Cairo, Madrid and Miami. Cape Town has already experienced looming water scarcity, coming to the brink of running out of water in both 2017 and 2018.

There is currently enough water to support the human population, it is down to how we use this water and how we share it that will determine the level of water scarcity we face in the future.

Abraham Lincoln once said that when the well is dry we will know the worth of water, let’s try to know the worth of and protect this vital resource before we use the last drop.

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Foundations Built on Sand

We use it to tick away the minutes in hour glasses, curse the amount of it that we track back into our houses after a trip to the beach and post quotes featuring footprints in it to our Instagram pages in our weaker moments, sand it seems is everywhere.

Skyscrapers, Windshields and iPhones

Sand, however, may not be everywhere for long. Yes, those little grains we give very little thought to are running out. Sand is what we have built our cities out of, created our phones from and is even found in most car windscreens. Sand is the primary component in concrete, melted down the make glass and used to create silicon. Sand is, quite literally, everywhere. Sand comes second only to water when it comes to the most used natural resource in the word, with over 50 billion tonnes of the stuff used every year.

Now, the world has sand, one look at the Sahara or an image of the Kalahari from space and that is easy to see. The issue comes with the fact that not all sand is created equal. Desert sand is generally eroded by wind rather than water and as such, is the wrong shape to bind correctly when used to create substances such as concrete. Sand eroded by water and found in river beds, floodplains and beaches is what is used for construction purposes, the industry that makes up the main bulk of our sand consumption. This is the sand that is running out.

Sand Mining and Urbanisation

A large driver of this is the rate of urbanisation. As more people are moving to more cities, new buildings and roads need to be built and these are all built out of sand. The annual amount of construction sand used each year in India has tripled since 2000 and Dubai has such a demand for particular types of sand used for construction that it buys it in huge quantities from Australia. Sand is also being used to literally create more land. Countries including Nigeria, China, The US, Singapore and The UAE have all dredged ocean sand to create new land. This creates long term and often disastrous effects for the natural eco-system.

Mining sand for construction purposes is equally destructive, the churned up sediment created from river bed dredging can disrupt ecosystems and kill plant and aquatic life. Many experts believe that sand mining is a key contributing factor to the shrinking of the Mekong Delta, an area home to a diverse ecosystem, a main area of food production for Vietnam and home to over 20 million people.
To make a bad situation worse, riverbed dredging can cause increases in riverbank collapses, causing further destruction to croplands, homes and eco-systems, and sand mining had been linked to deadly bridge collapses in Portugal and Taiwan.

The Violent Underbelly of the Sand Trade

The sand trade has gotten so lucrative that criminal groups have started controlling the trade in some areas and creating a virtual slave labour in sand mines. In addition there have murders linked to the sand trade and violence in India, Gambia, Indonesia and Kenya has been reported as result of criminal groups operating in the sand trade.

Urbanisation shows little signs of slowing and construction materials are going to remain a highly sought after commodity. As a result, scientists are trying to come up with alternative materials to make concrete from, exploring options such as shredded plastic and rice husks. Methods to more efficiently recycle concrete and glass and create ways to make these products with less sand are also being explored. For now though, we have built our foundations out of sand, the problem is that only makes the ground we have built them on that much more unstable.

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Overpopulation, the Lesson from the Super Villains

Overpopulation, the one crisis that movie super villains seem to fixate on. From Valentine in Kingsmen to Thanos in The Avengers, villains really seem to care about humanity’s swelling numbers and the impact this creates. The question though comes with is it something that we should be taking more notice of?

The human population has been rising steadily since the Black Death ended in the 1300s, the most significant rise in population though has occurred within the last 100 years. Since the 1920s the human population has grown by 5.7 billion people. As of February 2020, there are thought to be close to 7.7 billion people on Earth and that number is only set to rise, reaching 9.8 billion people by 2050. 

Population Booms in a World of Limited Resources

Although fertility rates are dropping in many countries, third-world nations are still reporting high fertility rates. The UN has reported that 26 African countries are predicted to double their size by 2050 and every continent except Europe and Antarctica is forecasted to continue experiencing population growth over the next 80 years.

This population boom creates a significant challenge in the management and distribution of resources, disposal of waste and land management. Quite simply put, more people need more resources, more space and create more waste. The world however does not offer unlimited resources and this increased demand creates a system that the world will not be able to continue to sustain. Alongside uncontrolled population growth are projected food and water shortages, possibly leading to increased conflict in many areas, increased pollution and increased damage to the environment, further exacerbating global warming and climate change.

It may sound like these super villains might have been onto something with their concern. However, don’t go searching for the infinity stones yet, there are far less drastic ways to control population growth and limit the effects of an increasing amount of people sharing the planet. The first comes quite simply by using fewer resources. The average middle- class American consumes 250 times more water and 3.3 times more food than is needed to survive, cutting down on our over-usage of resources on a global scale will vastly limit the impacts of a swelling population.

The Power of Education and Family Planning

Another solution comes with education. Research has shown that the more educated a population, particularly the female population, is of a country, the lower the birth rate. A study in Ghana showed that women who had completed high school had a birth rate of two to three children whereas women who had no education had an average of six children. This trend can also be observed on a global scale. In Canada, one of the most educated countries the average birth rate in 2019 was 1.5 births per woman. In 2019, Niger, a country with a lower level of education had an average birth rate of 6.8.

Increasing access to family planning programs and lowering the cost and improving the access to contraceptive treatments is another proven method to reduce population growth. Some groups are also advocating for governments to provide incentives for families to have less children.

Creating lifestyle changes and reducing carbon emissions is another way that the impacts of overpopulation can be managed and reduced. Switching to green energy sources, reducing meat consumption, increasing recycling and promoting more sustainable farming methods can all create a positive impact.

So, is overpopulation something we should be taking notice of? Yes. However, before you dedicate yourself to the life of a super villain, there are ways it can be managed and slowed to ensure a bright future for all of us.

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Old Age… Gradually then Suddenly

Old age. It sneaks up on us all the way that Hemingway says bankruptcy does, gradually and then suddenly. Old age though is now sneaking up on an ever-increasing population, in the US alone it is estimated that the number of people over 65 will rise from 47 million in 2015 to 88 million in 2050.
Meanwhile, on a global scale the over 65 population is expected to rise from 352 million in 2010 to 1.5 billion in 2050, for the first time in human history the over 65 population will exceed the under 5 population. This massive demographical shift is largely due to increases in medical capabilities and increased life expectancy partnered with falling fertility rates.

The Cost of Longevity

An increase in life expectancy is largely thought of as a great thing, the issue comes, as it does with many great things, with how do we afford it? Maybe Hemingway was onto something with the bankruptcy as well.
The economy is not keeping up with this increase in longevity. Estimates state that in the US alone 10 million people over the age of 65 are still in the workforce, a number that has doubled since 1985 and most households are not saving a sufficient amount for retirement. If nothing changes, these numbers are only going to grow.

Increases in the likelihood and severity of chronic conditions in older populations such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s and diabetes coupled with an inability to work creates a large burden on both national and global economies. The health sector in particular will take the hit of an ageing population with an increase in costs and staffing levels to keep up with this change in demographics. As well as health care, an increase in pensions will create another financial challenge for economies to deal with.

Changing with the Times

There are however innovative solutions to keep up with this changing demographic, in the words of another great wordsmith, the times they are a changing.  The trick is to change with them.


Finland, a country with one of the oldest populations in Europe, has launched an initiative to provide access to fitness and cultural centres such as public pools, gyms, libraries and museums at discounted prices to older groups, with the aim of creating a healthier population. In one town gym access is free to over 65s in the hopes of creating decreases in health expenditure over the long term.
Finland also encourages older populations to volunteer in the community, providing an avenue for connection and stimulation across generational divides and providing a way for older people to still positively contribute to the community.


The World Health Organisation has also advised that investing more time and resources into improving childhood health could limit the healthcare burden of an increased older population. Many health issues in old age stem from childhood circumstances such as poor nutrition or exercise levels. As such older generations would be healthier, could work longer and have increased quality of life if a healthy lifestyle is promoted from childhood.

Old age is coming for us all and with advancements in technology and changes in cultural norms the ageing population is and will continue to increase. Despite the challenges this may bring there are ways these challenges can be combated. To paraphrase Lucas Graham, soon we’ll be sixty years old, so we better be prepared.

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We Won’t be in Kansas Anymore

Climate change. I know it is terrifying. We are all going to burn, drown, starve or get sucked up in a tornado like some twisted version of The Wizard of Oz. Politicians are denying it, teenagers are fighting to stop it, businessmen are exploiting it and new agreements are being drawn up and then being left unsigned everyday. Meanwhile Australia is on fire, the UK is flooding, tornadoes are crisscrossing the US like they’re trying to win a game of snakes and ladders and a literal plague of locusts has descended on the Horn of Africa. Welcome the new world folks.

Floods, Fires and Twisters

It can be tempting to try and bury our heads in the sand, take some retail therapy at our nearest fast fashion outlet, forget our keep cups, decide recycling is too hard and pretend this whole thing is a bad dream. But (I know there is always a but) scientists are predicting less than 12 years before climate change is irreversible and the twisters, floods, fires, plagues and general apocalyptic scenes become a compulsory, worldwide, year-round event. So pretending its all a bad dream, well it will become the sort you can’t easily wake from. Burying our heads in the sand here is not an option, and only in part because the world is rapidly running out of sand.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a panel made up of over 1300 members from around the world has forecasted a temperature rise of 2.5-10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Previous global warming impacts the panel has forecasted due to rising temperatures such as shrinking glaciers, river ice breaking up sooner in the season and the melting of sea ice have already started to occur.

The warming of the planet is largely due to increases in greenhouse gasses from mostly human activities, these gasses trap heat in the atmosphere, creating an increase in temperature.

Global warming is one of the main drivers of climate change, climate change being a global issue and one of which the effects will be felt world-wide.
With 39% of humanity living within 100 kilometres of a coastline, countless people will be displaced, heat waves will become more common and severe, farming practices will be disrupted and animal species will begin to die out.

And Droughts Too…

 In some areas droughts and water scarcity will become more common, with Cape Town already having faced the prospect of running out of water, and other areas will become far more prone to severe flooding.

If we ignore the issue of climate change then the impacts on the economy, immigration, world aid, food, water, trade and society as we know it will be impacted far more than if we implement change to tackle this issue before the house is burned down. If you are still leaning towards pretending this isn’t happening and going out to buy that coffee in its disposable cup, know that two of the crops that will be affected by climate change and rising temperatures include coffee and cocoa. So enjoy that coffee while you still can.

Now, this may seem like a lot of doom and gloom, but the positive news is that the world is starting to realise the full extent of climate change. We have seen movements like Fridays for Future spread across the world, a reported increase in the concern and awareness of the public about climate change and changing trends, albeit it sometimes slow, in consumer habits towards more sustainable practices.

Our clock is ticking but our time is not up yet, we can all make changes to help turn this around. That twister may be on its way but we are still the ones that can change it, at the moment we are still in Kansas.

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How to Survive the Next Pandemic, Lessons from the Zombie Apocalypse

If there is anything that the televisions and film industry has taught us over the last ten years it is that the apocalypse will most likely come not from rocks hurtling from space or mushroom clouds on the horizon but from microscopic organisms and particles that we can not see or hear or shoot at.

From The Walking Dead to Twelve Monkeys to Contagion we have seen the story written in the same way with the same core villain, a transmissible, debilitating, evil disease.

But the question left after the credits have rolled and the actors have taken their bows and the day has inevitably been saved is how accurate is this script? And what do we do about it?

SARS, the Spanish Flu and the Justinian Plague

With the discovery of new and novel viruses such as SARS, H1N1 and recently the new Coronavirus 2019nCov, the impact and the devastation that diseases can cause has been in the forefront of the world’s mind. This, however, is not a new story, humanity has faced pandemics in the past, including the Justinian Plague which some experts believe killed up to a quarter of the population in the Eastern Mediterranean in the sixth century, the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the 1300s and the Spanish Flu that in the twentieth century wiped out 5% of the world population in only two years

We have learned since these times though, we have improved containment and detection measures, increased treatment capabilities and vaccinations and created organisations to combat such disasters. New diseases, however, still keep popping up with an average of five new diseases each year, many of the most dangerous jumping from animal to human populations. The interconnectedness of the world creates another risk, with viruses now able to travel through diverse populations with great ease and speed, as was seen with the SARS virus which infected people in 26 countries after originating in South East China, and the 2019nCov which has as of the third of February travelled to 25 countries.

Many experts believe that at some unknown point, the next global pandemic will be inevitable, whether this pandemic will be relatively benign or one to end us all is still yet to be seen.

What Do We Do About It?

Which brings us to the next issue, what do we do about it?
Governments and organisations around the world have been preparing for the next threat from the shadowy world of viruses for years, increasing measures to identify, contain and treat any new, emerging or mutating diseases. Combating issues such as global warming and climate change also may potentially slow or prevent new diseases emerging, as melting permafrost can cause new viruses to be exposed. Reducing logging and creating more sustainable farming methods to avoid wildlife and human populations from having to share the same spaces may also help stave off our doom.  

Rick Grimes and the First Rule of Zombieland

On a more personal level, Columbus from Zombieland may not have had it completely wrong when he claimed the first rule of Zombieland is Cardio. Healthy populations have stronger immune systems and as such greater resistance to threats.

In addition, listening to health care organisations and following their instructions may help limit the effects of pandemics in the future.

Another lesson for surviving the next pandemic, don’t panic. Humanity has faced viruses since the beginning of life on Earth and will continue to face them, we have won this race before. Technology is always improving and protocols are always getting better.

And, the final lesson from the world TV and movies for surviving the next pandemic, as said by Rick Grimes, we survive this by pulling together not apart. If there is one thing that all these stories have in common it is the enduring hope and perseverance of humanity, and the fact that in the worst of times we find our strength in each other. That perhaps will be what in the end will save us all.
So roll the credits and take a bow, because as per

the script we are here to inevitably save the day.

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