Environmental dangers, balanced policy making

It's nice that leading figures have started to point at the dangerous effects of climate change. But other environmental dangers are larger: depletion of groundwater stock, depletion of ocean fish with nearing irreversible marine ecosystem damage, and depletion of forests with irreversible slope erosion, all for about 70% now already. 

But how do we rank these damages? There is no need to remain in the domain of confused worry. We can identify three types of degradation: depletion, pollution and disasters. These degradations occur in four 'compartments': soil, water, air and organisms. This may give some the clarity for balanced policy making. Here are examples of degradation in the four compartments:

Depletion of soil: mountain run off after deforestation

Depletion of water: groundwater stock

Depletion of air: urban fresh air

Depletion of organisms: ocean fish stock

Pollution of soil: fluid waste dumping

Pollution of water: agricultural chemicals

Pollution of air: climate gasses

Pollution of organisms: genetic manipulation

Disasters, soil: earthquake

Disasters, water: inundation

Disasters, air: industrial gas explosion

Profit seeking and consumption growth per capita are more dangerous than population growth. Humanity at large has to learn that endless conquering and growth are no longer viable options. But don't count too much on governments and corporations. Count on grassroot initiatives that directly improve environmental sustainability or effectively influence governments and corporations, such as voting for a green party or organize boycotts by consumers. Personal contributions to those initiatives and interconnecting those initiatives in order to make them stronger are even better.