What is Global Warming? What is this pish-posh about our Earth warming up? What is this thing about so many animals dying because of Global Warming? Does anybody care? I don't think so. Not in our country at least.

This article is an attempt to spread awareness...to spread prosperity and to spread knowledge about the harmful effects of overpopulation, pollution and wastage. I sincerely hope that this article will help to bring about a change. Change in your personality and your lifestyle for a better Pakistan and a better Earth.

Over-population

Let's start with the father of all natural problems on Earth. Over-population. Population is simply defined as the sum of living things living in an area. I will, of course talk about human population because that is something that we can control easily. Pakistan's current population is approximately 160 million or 16 crores. That's a lot, considering that Saudi Arabia 's population is 25 crores and Brazilis is 187 crores (and they have five times the area of Pakistan). Our growth rate is 2.6 percent. According to analysts, Pakistan's population will be 250 crore by the end of 2040. If we do not stop it, just imagine the chaos! Over-population is, like I said, the father of all natural problems. How? Well, Overpopulation gives birth to the following problems:

--Poverty

--Water Problems

--Hygiene

--Traffic

--Starvation

Let's take an example. Let us consider that Family A earns Rs100 a month. Family A consists of a mother and father as well as two children. Now that makes four members, right? Divide 100 by four. You get 25. This means that each family member gets to spend Rs25 per month. Let's take another example: Family B. They earn Rs100 a month. Family B consists of a mother and father and eight children. Divide 100 by 10 and you get ten. That depicts the fact that every single member gets 10 rupees a month. Do you see the difference? In most rural areas, parents think that the more kids they have the more financial support they will get when they grow up. That may seem true, but it certainly is not. There is the probability that out of 10 children, four may not be successful. This places a large amount of burden on the shoulders of the son who himself has four kids already.

Other problems are rather very obvious. With the growing population and the constant consumption of water and food, we will have less water and food and more people and that is scary. Water will soon become a luxury and food will be priced higher, causing poverty, unless we stop the freakishly high growth rate. Traffic will become even more impossible. There will be traffic jams EVERYWHERE.

Solutions

- Try and stop your distant aunt from having that 8th kid.

- Encourage your servants, maids and gardeners to stop reproducing like cockroaches! Tell them the Family A/B example. Explain it to them.

- Make sure that when you grow up, you have no more than two maybe three kids.

- To the Government: Try applying some kind of law similar to that in China. This law should state that a family may not have more than three children, otherwise they would be fined HEAVILY.

Pollution

Now this is something that everyone in our beloved country can help in reducing. Your little brother/sister, your grandmother, your father, YOU, everyone! Pollution simply means materials which cause harmful effects to our environment. Our country is particularly known for its non-caring attitude towards environment. People spit and throw waste everywhere!

There are many types of pollution, but here are the three important ones:

--Air Pollution

--Water Pollution

--Noise Pollution

Air pollution is particularly a major problem. It's my estimate that 80 percent of all vehicles in Pakistan emit a kind of black smoke from their exhausts. Well, that is Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This CO2 reacts with the Ozone layer (it is a sort of a shield against the ultra violet rays of the Sun, which are extremely harmful). This reaction causes thinning of the Ozone Layer. This CO2 is also inhaled by pedestrians. It causes lung problems.

Water pollution is caused by the poisonous effects of fertilizers and other acidic materials. It kills fish. I want to eat fish!

Noise pollution is one major annoyance. Not only for me but for everyone. I mean, who likes being honked at or shouted at? Who wants to hear people talking loudly on their phone? This doesn't really have an effect on the environment, but it does affect us humans. It damages our moods and of course our ears.

Solutions

--Get your car tuned-up regularly by the local car mechanic.

--Make sure that your car does not emit any kind of black material from its exhaust.

--Start 'Car-Pooling' which means the sharing of space in your car. Instead of going to the office alone, pick up your colleagues on the way.

--Use your bicycle for short trips.

--Stop using those 'Super Whitening' washing powders. These materials are banned in the UK because they contaminate water.

--Stop pooing and peeing. Hehe. I kid you.

--Switch over to CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). It is more eco-friendly than Petrol or Diesel.

--Stop honking, people. It's very annoying!

--Stop talking loudly on the phone. The other person can hear you easily. Fact: Almost all phones are fitted with microphones that increase the volumes of the speaker's voice).

--Stop cranking the car stereo volume to full and showing off your bass system to people around you. They literally don't care.

Wastage and Garbage

Well, wasting any kind of resource is unnecessary and avoidable. We must all try and save as many things as we can. Water, light, food. Conserve them, dudes. It's for the best for everyone! Allah also loves humans who avoid wasting stuff.

Solutions

--When you are finished with using the toilet, don't FLUSH IT FULL. Never do that. It takes away nine litres of water! Pull only so much that the dump just goes away. That only requires a half-flush.

--Don't throw away the food you couldn't eat. Just give it to some needy animal.

--When you are taking a bath, turn the tap off when you are using shampoo or soap. That'll save some water.

--When you are cleaning dishes, use a thin stream of water and turn off the tap when not using it.

--Don't throw any wrapper, chewing gum or waste on the ground. Dunk it into the nearest garbage can.

--Don't use plastic polythene bags, please!

Polythene is not bio-degradable. Meaning, it cannot be recycled. Just use paper bags. They can be burnt.

--Be a good dude and turn off all unnecessary electric appliances at night. This includes your TV, Playstation, Computer, DVD Player etc. Oh and make sure that these things do not remain on 'Standby' mode. Switch them off completely. I read somewhere that if all these appliances were not kept on the 'Standby' mode, the world would save 60 percent of its electricity.

--Turn off all the lights and fans of rooms that are vacant.

In short, don't WASTE anything and don't THROW anything randomly.