If you are over the age of 45 the world population has doubled in your life time.
Which I am, and that just seems scary to me.
Which I am, and that just seems scary to me.
Just heard a crazy population stat...
- Thread starter clonehenge
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I was just telling my wife the other night that is seems like the neighborhood is getting a little more crowded.
You should be scared.
http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/3_times_sustainable
You're gonna want your bible & rifle.
http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/3_times_sustainable
You're gonna want your bible & rifle.
I heard in a song once that there are more people alive right now that there are people who have lived and died*.
*It isn't true, but it was a good lyric.
I'm just thankful to be part of the first group and not that second one!
This is unfortunately one topic where I fall into the tinfoil hat category a bit. Population is growing at an alarming rate relative to our means to support it. Without any societal changes at all, the numbers of starving people and people living in poverty increase as a byproduct of the percentages.
There is going to be a tipping point, and I'm a little afraid of what that will look like.
There is going to be a tipping point, and I'm a little afraid of what that will look like.
It's a problem nobody wants to talk about. I recently read a story about reducing your carbon footprint and having one less baby was 30-40X more effective at combating climate change than the next highest impact (IIRC it was going completely car-less). I'll try to find the stats.
This is a good read too:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/...hange-solution-no-one-will-talk-about/382197/
This is a good read too:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/...hange-solution-no-one-will-talk-about/382197/
At the same time, the birthrate is falling in developed countries, to the point that many would shrink over time without immigration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate
An interesting dynamic that will play out
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate
An interesting dynamic that will play out
Which is why climate change/global warming will continue unabated until population control is include as a piece, perhaps the major piece, of the solution. Sad but true.
Every time I see huge tracts of prime farmland get developed I wonder how long it will take somebody will say "I wish we could have that ground back for food production."
Most solutions to overpopulation are going to be drastic because it's not something that will take care of itself. Continuing to ignore the issue is what's going to escalate the problem, and no leader is going to get elected with the "I'm the guy that wants to take your children from you" platform.
Discoveries of new lands, longer life spans and disease control have taken the place of war, famine and plagues. Ironically, our efficiencies as a species are the root causes of the issue.
I think I've doubled in size since I was 45
Too bad. We'll need that land for more cemeteries.
But if we cannot break our dependence on fossil fuels (derived for ancient dinosaur bodies) at least we potentially start melting humans and convert them to gasoline.
This is why THanos tries to kill half the universe in the next Avengers movie, at least if they follow the original comics plot.
Yes, this is the third rail of environmental, energy, food, etc. policy at a government level. Nobody wants to seriously consider population control - and understandably so given our great faith and belief in individual rights, freedoms, etc. (things I also firmly believe in) - but we are truly going to eat ourselves out of house and home. I think there's like 7.4 billion people on earth now consuming ever more resources. The population continues to grow exponentially and we continue to alter the weather and climate in incremental and tiny ways we don't understand by cutting down the great carbon sinks that are rainforests, draining wetlands, etc. that help preserve life.
I know this may send this to the cave, but it is very sad that at a critical time for our future and our planet, we elected Donald Trump - a man who has called Climate Change a hoax invented by the Chinese, shows little support for environmental initiatives to preserve our long-term place on this planet, and presents ludicrous budget proposals that cut women's health initiatives and access to health care in the U.S. and abroad - as POTUS. Many women in sub-saharan Africa, Asia and other parts of the world have little control over whether or not they get pregnant and it would be nice to ensure access to contraceptives for these women and their unwanted children, who often become orphans.