The more the developed west and developing countries consume, the more pollution. How to stop that?
Same as the Founding Fathers who had the wisdom and foresight over 250 years ago to design a system that would protect people from themselves, I wish that someone had the wisdom and foresight a 150 years ago to come up with a global program to protect the Planet at the time that we entered the Industrialization age, but unfortunately that opportunity has been lost not due to ignorance or incompetence, but just because of the fact that no one at that time had the knowledge to even recognize that the Planet could be irreversibly damaged by human activity.
Now here we are almost in the year 2020 , we now have all the knowledge that is needed to know that human activity has played a big role in causing the problems that we are facing with the environment. This planet has been experiencing Climate Changes for millions of years even before there were any humans, but what is making the difference now is the fact that instead of those changes taking place over thousands or millions of years they are now happening within a couple of centuries or even within a few decades. Absent any catastrophic events such as sudden volcanic interruptions or huge asteroid impacts human activity is now the biggest danger to the environment that needs to be addressed and corrected.
As you mentioned Reforestation is a very positive and necessary step to take so that this Planet can continue to breathe. Among other things that come to mind are putting more research on trying to find safer sources of energy that can replace fossil fuels, reducing meat consumption and finding more plant based sources of food that are more environmentally friendly, cutting down on unnecessary travel and finding better means of transportation, making homes, appliances, and equipment that can be reconfigured, updated, and reused without adding so much waste to the landfills, reducing or eliminating the use of materials, chemicals, and disposable items that are harmful to the environment.
Although we have to keep in mind that any of these ideas requires changes in our habits, life styles, and jobs so that is why it is so important to find a balance between having a healthy Environment and having a healthy Economy. Unfortunately because of all the delays we don’t have any time left to gradually adjust ourselves to what is needed to save this planet, some drastic steps need to be taken now before it’s too late, but if we are to save peoples jobs and livelihood we must think of ways to transform those jobs in to areas that are more environmentally friendly otherwise the economical impact around the World of people losing their jobs will be as bad or even worse than the environmental effects on their lives.
In my opinion tackling the environmental problems has to be done in two ways:
1-Education and Creating Awareness
2-Constructive, Timely, and Adequate Action
Perhaps we can get more input from everyone as to how best to carry each one out.