Our mother Earth and and mother Nature inclusive of humanity are facing a plethora of pathological symptoms in their different domains- atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, and biosphere. Humans are witnessing unprecedented rate of resource draw down and pollution problems from local to global scales. We have crossed a number of planetary boundaries and are about to touch some tipping points too soon. Sometimes it's like humanity's planetary experiment with untoward consequences!
Lets put your observation which is the most critical environmental and ecological crisis, why you think so and how we can reverse the trend.
This depends on many issues, such as location (I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and many would say it is climate change). Personally I feel it is the degradation / pollution of water sources as often especially poor people have little choice than to consume contaminated water and get severe diseases from it.
There are many but the most critical is global warming (planet overheating).
The reason is that it has a positive feedback build into it which make the system inherently unstable, to start with, even without human intervention (as the ice-age and thawing oscillations show). There are many positive feedback mechanisms:mechanisms:
- Warming oceans dissolve less CO2 and therefore release it into atmosphere which reinforces the planet warming.
- Dwindling glaciers and polar caps ice decrease Earth albedo making more solar radiation to reach the surface.
- Melting permafrost releases huge amounts of greehouse gases.
- There are large deposits of solid methane in the depths of continental shelves. They form at sufficiently low temperatues (a few degC) and high pressure. Presently, they are partially melting and releasing the CH4 in the atmosphere.
- etc (many minor ones)
Should the already unstable system trip over, it would be abrupt (by geological standards almost instantaneous) and raise the mean temperature close to the boiling point of water.
The danger is real, and it can not be excluded that presently we have already crossed the point of no return.
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