Overpopulation leads to dirty air

After spending 39 years in Park City and as many winter season, I’m also a keen observer of nature and have observed how faster and faster our snow melts in the spring. Sure, I have also seen our average year-round temperatures creep up as well during these almost four decades living in Utah. But in addition to global warming, and as the world population increases, air pollution caused by particles and a myriad of other pollutant materials floating in the air poses a significant threat. 

I believe that a growing world population is likely to worsen our air quality and the health as well as environmental consequences we’re facing. It’s obvious that more people lead to more activity: A larger world population means more cars on the road, more industrial activity, more energy consumption and an exponential volume of trash that ends up on the ground in the oceans and in the air. 

This isn’t counting mineral dust blown from the Sahara in Europe or from the southern California and Arizona deserts where I live. All that stuff eventually lends somewhere and obviously on our snow covered mountain as well as polar caps where snow and glaciers melt at a much accelerated pace. This results in the albedo effect, where the reflective surface of ice and snow in the polar regions reflects sunlight back into space, helping to maintain cooler temperatures. Interestingly, polar caps warm up faster than lower latitudes due to a phenomenon known as polar amplification. 

This occurs because of positive feedback mechanisms that amplify the effects of warming in polar regions. As temperatures rise and ice melts, more heat is absorbed by the exposed darker surfaces, leading to further warming and much less water conservation throughout the year, negatively affecting culinary water supply, agriculture, and why not, snowmaking. 

To make matters worse, as ice melts, it releases more greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, which further contribute to warming. Changes in ocean circulation patterns and atmospheric circulation can also play a role in amplifying warming in polar regions. All this to say that our planet was never meant for a human population over two billions and where everyone is actively consuming and polluting. 

This needs to be turned around sooner than later, but since too few broach the subject, it’s probably already to late!