We live in an overcrowded world. Right now we are more than 7 billion people on the entire planet, and counting. Each one of us, from birth to death, wants to have our needs covered, something that is completely logical, but what happens when we overexploit natural resources and do not take care of the Earth?
Climate change, while a natural phenomenon, we are making it worse. Deforestation, the use of fossil fuels, the pollution of seas, rivers and the air we breathe, destabilize the atmosphere. If we want to stop it, we have to know which are the most effective measures and that is precisely what has investigated the University of Lund (Sweden). Among them is that of having fewer children, although it is not the only one.
Researchers have come up with a personal formula that could save humanity: having fewer children, avoiding air travel, not using the car and being a vegetarian. With these measures, the so-called "First World" countries could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, based on an exhaustive analysis of different government documents and reports.
Thus, they have been able to find out that wearing a Vegetarian diet would allow us to save 0,8 tons of carbon dioxide per year; do not use the car 2,4 tons, and not using the plane as much 1,6 tons of CO2 per trip. But the most striking thing is not having so many children: with this measure, CO2 emissions would decrease by 58,6 tons per year on average. This is a calculation that counts the future emissions of the son and his descendants.
These are measures that we may not like very much, but study co-author Kimbery Nicholas said that “we cannot ignore the climate effect that our lifestyle really does. Personally, I have found it very positive to make many of these changes. For young people who set patterns for life, as they are now aware of which options have the greatest impact.