World War Three

There is going to be another world war — but this one will be fought over water.

Not only in the United States, but across the world, natural resources are declining too rapidly for them to replenish themselves. The water tables in groundwater systems are failing to fill back up causing other problems such as sinkholes. Pollution is acidifying oceans and poisoning clean air. Vital forests are being torn down for wood, while nothing is replacing them.

"We've now reached the limit where that trajectory can no longer continue," journalist Steven Solomon told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly. "Suddenly we're going to have to find a way to use the existing water resources in a far, far more productive manner than we ever did before, because there's simply not enough."

Since the interview in 2010, nothing has improved. There have been pieces of legislation such as the Clean Water Act, effective since 1972, that helped curb water usage, but small pieces of legislation in only one single country won’t solve the big problems. There is a steep, rapid decline of available resources as the population continuously rises, causing a vicious cycle of the increased demand of water for survival.

“By 2050, the world's populations will be a third to a half again as large as today, with the biggest factor driving water consumption not being the home, school, or workplace tap or even industrial processes,” Clark Judge of U.S. News and World Report said. “70 percent of the world's usable water is consumed in agriculture — growing and raising our food.”

Without a sufficient amount of desalinated water, there will not be enough water to meet the demands of humans, to give to animals or to water crops. The world’s main food sources from animals and crops will not be able to feed the population in any country, including here in the United States. With the few remaining resources, the world — out of fear, hunger, thirst — may begin to fight.

But, there is a chance this can be avoided.

Conservation is key. Legislation is key. Recognizing the needs of the environment is key. Building a renewable infrastructure is key. The intersection of the environment, people, needs and demands are key.

We hold the keys to the future, and just need to act — without slowing legislation, without ignorance, without fear. With innovation and allocating funds, there can be time to rebuild renewable infrastructure away from the harm of coals and oils. By conserving and being mindful of our ecological footprints, there will be time to start reversing the damage to our thousands of precious ecosystems and saving our even more precious resources.

There can be time to save us — but now, we have to act.

Sarah Litz