An end has a start

Since the existence of mankind, many has been invented, changed and revolutionized to be where we are today, the 21^st Century. And as we all know, the environmental/going green buzz has been becoming a very popular theme/topic in every single thing we see, be it from movies to fashion to assignment topics to basically EVERYTHING! Surely everything has its beginnings so I stumbled across an article that talks about the the timeline of the impact humans on the environment from the very beginning to the present and to the near future.

THE BEGINNING- The Earth is about 4.55 billion years old but modern humans have only been around for about 2.2 million years.

1800- The Industrial Revolution began between the 18^th to 19^th century and marked a major turning point for both Earth’s ecology and humans. We started turning coal and fossil fuels to drive steam engines and other devices. We also saw a change in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology, all of which took a significant toll on Earth.

1900- Deforestation for commercial and agricultural purposes starts on a big scale to maek way for urbanization in the 20^th century.

1945- The atom bomb was dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which sparked the first nuclear warfare and nuclear pollution. The after effects include everything from severe radiation to humans and animals to climate change which lasted for decades

1952- The Great London Smog of December 1952 killed approximately 4000 people as a result of really bad air pollution

1960- The number of ocean ‘dead zones’ which are patches of ocean devoid of life began doubling each year

1984- The Bhopal Disaster happened and was considered to be the world’s worst industrial catastrophe. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from a plant in India resulted in a spill of toxic waste. Even 20 years after, the ground and water surrounding still shows signs of toxic compounds

1990- The 90s was named the hottest decade on record but sadly we expect it to only get worst

1999- The world population reaches the 6 billion mark increasing the requirements for resources, energy, food housing and land as well as the exponential increase in waste by-products.

2004- The Tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and host of other natural isasters speak global concern over the drastic change in climate

2005- The Kyoto Protocol was drawn as an attempt to get worldwide support against global warming. Its aim was monitor and lower greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere from 2008 to 2012. As of July 2010, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol

2015- By this year, oil output will decline and cause massive global shortages

2025- If the rainforests continue to be logged as they currently are, we will reach the point of no return by 2030

THE END- It is still uncertain what the distant future holds for mankind and Earth, some suggest that we might have to move life to Mars instead as our planet will be so destroyed and depleted that it will be inhabitable for any life. Many of the environmental effects can still be reversible if we start doing changes NOW!