Sand and bananas: six things that may soon disappear

Lately, humanity has begun to feel increasingly - and increasingly painfully - the reduction of resources. Writes about this with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

You have probably heard of a shortage of water, oil and honey bees, but there are other resources that we lack, or that simply disappear due to misuse, and they affect all areas of our lives.

Here are six of them that you may not know about.

1. Free space in orbit

As of 2019, about 500 thousand objects revolve around the Earth.

Only about 2 of them actually work—the satellites we use every day for communications, GPS, and watching our favorite shows.

The rest is debris from rocket launches and previous collisions of orbital objects.

So what's the problem? The figure of 500 thousand covers only objects that are actively monitored - but new ones are launched every day.

With the advancement of technology, it is becoming easier and easier to bring something into orbit.

While this is mostly good news for humanity, there is no air traffic control for all these objects, nor is there a system for destroying unnecessary objects that clutter the Earth's orbit.

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With the increase in the number of such objects, the risk of their collision and damage to the networks necessary for the operation of our phones, maps and weather tracking systems increases.

They are looking for a solution to this problem, but have not yet found it.

2. Sand

This may seem strange to you - how can we run out of sand when there is plenty of it on beaches and deserts?

But in fact, no solid material is mined on such a scale as sand and gravel. And, according to the UN, we use it much faster than nature manages to restore it.

It takes thousands of years to form sand by erosion, and we use it daily on a massive scale in construction, reclamation, water filtration, and even for the manufacture of glass.

As sand loss threatens a fragile ecosystem, there have been calls for global monitoring and regulation of the increasing use of this, as it turned out, limited resource.

3. Helium

The next time you release a balloon into the sky, think about whether it’s worth doing.

Helium gas is also a finite resource, mined deep from the ground, with only a few decades left in supply.

According to some estimates, helium deficiency will occur within 30-50 years.

It may seem to you that this will only slightly spoil the mood at children's parties, but helium has an important medical use: cooling magnets that allow MRI scanners to work.

They have revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, brain and spinal cord injuries.

4. Bananas

In our not-so-distant future dystopia will be grabbed by smoothies!

Most of the bananas that are now grown for sale on a commercial basis face a fungus called Panama Disease.

Most bananas we eat are variations of the Cavendish variety, which comes directly from a single plant. Because they are all clones, Panama disease could potentially spread quickly to the entire banana plant population.

A similar situation already existed - in the 50s, the same disease almost destroyed the world banana harvest, as a result of which producers switched from the Gros Michel variety to Cavendish.

On the subject: After 20 years after the disappearance, a woman found a daughter with a new name and her own children.

Researchers are working on the development of new varieties, not only resistant to fungus, but also delicious.

5. The soil

Although the world's soil reserves cannot take and evaporate from the surface of the Earth, its irrational use is now a serious problem.

Most vital plant nutrients come from the topmost, fertile soil layer.

WWF, an NGO that works to conserve wildlife, estimates that about half the world's soil has been lost over the past 150 years, and it can take up to 500 years for one inch of soil to be restored naturally.

It is believed that erosion, intensive farming, deforestation and global warming contribute to the loss of the topsoil, on which the vast majority of world food production depends.

6. Phosphorus

At first glance, phosphorus seems to play too important a role in our daily lives.

But it is not only a necessary element of the structure of human DNA, but also the basis of the necessary agricultural fertilizer, which has no substitute.

Instead of returning to the soil from which it comes - through plant and animal waste - phosphorus often travels to cities along with crops, and is eventually washed out into the sea by our sewage systems.

If the situation does not change, according to various estimates of phosphorus, we can last from 35 to 400 years.

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