Climate change. Global warming. These continue to be “controversial” terms in today’s world. I’m not going to get into the debate of whether or not the science is real (though I’m going to go out on a limb and say most engineers believe in the science). The undeniable truth is there are limits to Earth’s natural resources.
Let’s look at water for example. Water is a precious resource; one necessary for our survival. Yet according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), about 1/5 of the world’s population (1.2 billion people) lives in areas of physical water scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. By 2030, with the existing climate change scenario, UNDESA reports almost half of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress, and water scarcity in some arid and semi-arid places will displace between 24 million and 700 million people.