Drawn Up: The Biggest Environmental Problems of 2021 The climate crisis is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, and we are not ready for it. While the crisis has many factors that play a role in its exacerbation

5. Deforestation
10,000 years ago, around the start of agriculture, forests used to cover 57% of all habitable land. Since then, we’ve lost a third, much of it replaced by crops or grazing land. 
According to The World Counts, we are losing 20 football pitches worth of forest every minute, though much of it regrows. Far more critical is the rate of loss of primary forests that have remained untouched for millenia. 75% of these are found in just seven countries, and they are home to some of the most ecologically rich and diverse ecosystems in the world. New forests are not able to build up such biodiversity without centuries to do so, nor are they able to capture and store carbon so densely.
According to the WRI, we lost a football pitch of primary rainforest every 6 seconds last year, equivalent to 3.8 million hectares or an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
Not only does this lead to one of the other biggest environmental problems in biodiversity loss, but old, large forests like the Amazon provide water, materials, medicine and livelihoods for an entire continent (and beyond). Scientists say we are nearing a tipping point, past which enough deforestation will mean its slow, but inevitable disappearance.
What you can do: solutions here are more difficult for the average individual to apply, but since cattle are a large driver of deforestation, eating less meat can help. Many other products we use every day come from rainforests, such as cashews, vanilla, avocado, coffee, tea and cocoa. Make sure the ones you consume are sourced responsibly. 
6. Air Pollution
Air pollution is one of the world’s worst killers, attributed ~10 million deaths each year making it one of our biggest environmental problems. This is far more than was previously thought, and as the world continues to industrialize, it is not expected to subside soon.

When countries develop, this comes hand in hand with air pollution – mostly from industrial and vehicular sources, but also from indoor fuel combustion. Pollution builds up in the early stages, then legislation catches up and it begins reducing. Countries in Africa are a good example, with 258,000 people having died as a result of outdoor air pollution in 2017.
In the past four decades, China went through a very polluted stretch due to its rapid development, but it has made huge progress in the last decade. Most of its major cities now are just above the WHO’s guideline levels for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). 
India remains in a critical state, with routine smogs in its densely populated agglomerations, affecting millions of people everyday. 

What you can do: walk, cycle or use public transport rather than your car where possible. You can also use air quality index apps on your phone to track pollution in real time and choose healthier routes for yourself and others.