world population

I think that population growth rates are too high (especially in developing parts of the world), and that people need to quit procreating like our lower mammalian cousins so that the planet might get a shot at recovery. Need to get laid? Have at it, big guy ... But is it that big a goddamn deal to use contraceptives? Also ... No one needs 12 kids. You just plain don't. Sorry. Surely three or four would suffice.

That felt good ... In all seriousness, though, I do feel that its getting to be too much. I really do like people ... I also feel that the planet can have too much of a good thing.

Thomas Malthus!

sourdough09 wrote:

Good news. Fertility rates are falling across the board even in most developing nations. This does not mean that we won't have a population problem of course. The population is still projected to rise until ~2025 before levelling off but by then the world's pop will be quite high. Still at least there is some promising news.

Educate young girls in developing countries and the fertility drops almost immediately.

That is indeed highly encouraging.

Here's the most encouraging news I've seen today. Let's just hope this is true. :roll:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDftD70E_Wk

TriumphantAngel wrote:

you have to wonder where all the resources will come from (water, food, shelter, energy, transportation, to name just a few), that's going to be needed to support all these people. we can't even take care of all the ones that are here now.

Hopefully with more efficiency, conservation and technology. We already have enough food to feed everyone. Actually more than enough food, the problem is distribution. Water is more difficult and clearly this in my mind will become the biggest limiting factor. If we could figure out a cheap and energy efficient method of desalinization... that would be awesome. Transport could be interesting. Much of the developing world lacks tons of infrastructure that we have and it is possible that some technology can be leapfrogged into better and more efficient uses. ie. cellphones in Africa leap frogged land lines. Maybe we can see the same with smart power grids and green energy?

I hate to say it, but nature has a way of correcting itself if it gets to be too much.

MrSmith wrote:

its not just people's sustainability. wtf is an elphant or whale gonna do on a planet with 10 billion people on it? die. thats what.

unless the man herds us into city apartments and feeds us soylent green. not everyone wants to live that way.

Not necessarily... Population is going to increase for the next few decades but if we're smart about how we manage and plan, we can help prevent SOME of the problems we are likely to encounter. Sure, there will be more extinctions. Right now there are already mass extinctions that occur everyday. There is actually an elephant cull being discussed in South Africa due to over population BTW.

I'm sorry if people don't "want" to live that way, but seriously there simply is not enough space for everyone to own a huge house and large yard. I'm sure people not long ago would have scoffed at giving up acres of land to live in houses with mere yards. We'll have to adjust and learn to live more efficiently and we are.

Urbanization is rapidly accelerating in developing countries as well as in the richer western countries. People are living in more densely populated buildings which is becoming the norm in many places. I don't recall any "herding" by anyone.

arthurdent wrote:

MrSmith wrote:

FiveB247x wrote:

Thomas Malthus!

he was wrong once, but for how long?

the only thing keeping Malthus from being right is Norman Borlaug and the "Green Revolution"

I'm surprised the "Food Inc crowd" hasn't pounced on the Norman Borlaug reference.

The increase in yields I think is about to hit an apex. If you look at trendlines of average yields over the past century it is approaching a peak. Without some sort of radical change in production or some sort of discovery that will shift the curve upward, we will eventually come to the situation that Malthus predicted. The green revolution probably just delayed this by 50 or 100 years.