Climate Change:

-"Current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming." from NASA

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-"The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere." from NASA

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-The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica have shrunk (decreased in mass), losing billions of tons of ice per year. Over the last decade, in Antarctica, this loss has tripled. from NASA

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-"Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year." from NASA

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-"Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent. This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans." from NASA

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-"Impacts of a 1.1-degree increase are here today in the increased frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events from heatwaves, droughts, flooding, winter storms, hurricanes and wildfires. (IPCC)" from UN Environment

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-"Every year we fail to act, the level of difficulty and cost to reduce emissions goes up. (EGR, 2019)" from UN Environment

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-"At 1.5°C [increase], over 70% of coral reefs will die, but at 2°C [increase] all reefs over 99% will be lost." from UN Environment

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-"Over 6 million people currently live in coastal areas vulnerable to sea level rise at 1.5°C degrees, and at 2°C this would affect 10 million more people by the end of this century." from UN Environment

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More resources: WWF, NASA, NRDC, IPCC 

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Water:

-2/3 of the world lives in extreme water scarcity for at least 1 month every year, while 0.5 billion people experience extreme water scarcity all year long. from Science Advances

-"1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year." from WWF

-"Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress. (UN, 2018)" from UN Water

 

- "More than half the world’s wetlands have disappeared." from WWF

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-"Agriculture uses 70% of the world’s accessible freshwater, but some 60% of this is wasted due to leaky irrigation systems, inefficient application methods as well as the cultivation of crops that are too thirsty for the environment in which they are grown." from WWF

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-"Everyday, women and young girls carry more than 40 pounds of dirty water from sources over 4 miles away from their homes. This leaves little time for education which is critical to changing the long term prospects of developing nations." from The Water Project.

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Biodiversity:

-"The Report finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history." from UN 

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-"Although some loss of biodiversity is normal, the current rate of extinction is unprecedented – being up to 1,000 times higher than natural background rates." from IIED

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-"Three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions." from UN 

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-">500,000 (+/-9%): share of the world’s estimated 5.9 million terrestrial species with insufficient habitat for long term survival without habitat restoration" from UN 

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-">40%: amphibian species threatened with extinction" from UN 

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-"Almost 33%: reef forming corals, sharks and shark relatives, and >33% marine mammals threatened with extinction" from UN 

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-"Two decades ago, at the first Earth Summit, the vast majority of the world’s nations declared that human actions were dismantling the Earth’s ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate." from Nature

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Deforestation:

-"68%: global forest area today compared with the estimated pre-industrial level" from UN 

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-"10-15%: global timber supplies provided by illegal forestry (up to 50% in some areas)" from UN 

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-"The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that just four commodities are responsible for tropical deforestation: beef, soy, palm oil and wood products." from Live Science

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-"Over the past 25 years, Uganda has lost 63% of its forest cover, Reuters reported." from Live Science

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-"According to a 2018 FAO report, three-quarters of the Earth’s freshwater comes from forested watersheds, and the loss of trees can affect water quality." from Live Science

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-"About 8 percent of global emissions currently come from tree cover loss in tropical forests, but these same forests can provide 23 percent of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed before 2030." from WRI

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Pollution:

-"Inadequate [water] sanitation is also a problem for 2.4 billion people—they are exposed to diseases, such as cholera and typhoid fever, and other water-borne illnesses. Two million people, mostly children, die each year from diarrheal diseases alone."

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-"In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions." from The Water Project

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-"1 out of every 5 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease." from The Water Project

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-"Plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, 300-400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes from industrial facilities are dumped annually into the world’s waters, and fertilizers entering coastal ecosystems have produced more than 400 ocean ‘dead zones’." from UN 

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-"The combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution cause about seven million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections." from WHO

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-"WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants." from WHO

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-"Close to half of deaths due to pneumonia among children under 5 years of age are caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution." from WHO

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-"According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 80% of pollution in marine environment comes from the land through sources like runoff." from Live Science

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-"About 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution, concludes a Cornell researcher." from Cornell

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-"In 2015, an estimated 55 percent of global plastic waste was discarded, 25 percent was incinerated, and 20 percent recycled." from Our World in Data

 

-"Of the 5800 million tonnes of primary plastic no longer in use, only 9 percent has been recycled since 1950." from Our World in Data