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Page added on July 15, 2015
World Population Going Up
Human population is always a touchy subject. Some scientists say we need a second planet just to keep up with our current habits.
3.6 Billion More People!
As reported in Phys.org, across the globe, the population is going up, not down. New United Nations projections say that by the year 2100, there will be an additional 50 percent, or 3.6 billion people (gulp!), tacked on to our current population of 7.3 billion.
Dr. Udoy Saikia, a demographer from Flinders University, describes this population increase bringing “huge challenges for the sustainability of humanity as a whole.” Issues related to poverty, healthcare, education, food security, water security and social conflict could become worse with so many more people. Our wildlife and environment will also suffer from our population boom.
Apart from billions of more people, the population will be younger. But experts can’t really decide if that’s a good thing or not. Younger people lack the experience and wisdom that come with age. Yet most of us (myself included) cling to romantic ideas that they’ll get things right with their vibrancy and drive. They could be humanity’s hope for the future.
5 Easy Things You Can Do to Help the Planet
Do these projections matter? Yup. Should we be concerned? Definitely. But figures can only tell part of the story. Perhaps by switching up some habits, we can make do with the only planet we have. Here are five easy tips that we can all implement to tread lighter on our beautiful planet:
1. Eat more plant-based: A plant-based diet saves a ton of precious resources: water, space (for wildlife), grains etc. And a plant-based diet keeps toxic stuff out of our environment.
2. Use less plastic: You know we have a plastic problem when there’s a plastic island. It’s polluting our environment and killing our wildlife (who confuse it for food) from seabirds to whales. Here are a few tips to break your plastic habit.
3. Drive less: You can reduce your carbon footprint by finding alternative modes of transportation. Taking a bike, carpooling or using public transportation all help.
4. Reduce, reuse, recycle: I’m sure you’ve heard that ad nauseum, but you’d be surprised how easily people forget.
5. Buy less clothes: Haute couture takes a lot of resources to pull off, particularly water. Instead of always buying new, try secondhand.
Obviously, there’s a ton more that we can do. Maybe we also need to move ideologically away from shaming women and couples who don’t want kids. Unfortunately, a woman’s worth is still linked to motherhood.
My dad grew up on a ranch. And to this day, whenever there’s a natural disaster in the news, he says, “la tierra esta cansada,” or “the earth is tired.” As someone who worked with the land — was connected to it — for a long time, he’s right. But I believe we can all do our part to make it less tired.
25 Comments on "World Population Going Up"
yoananda on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 8:21 pm
yeah, and don’t make any child … you will reduce your footprint far more than with reducing car usage.
Makati1 on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 8:27 pm
“World Population Going Up”
Headline until the collapse. Afterward, contraction in all parts of the world. Some more than others, and some in surprising places that think they are the ‘exception’. LOL.
apneaman on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 8:39 pm
Humans as Cancer
http://web.uvic.ca/~stucraw/Lethbridge/InterestingArticles/CANCER.HTM
apneaman on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 8:45 pm
David Attenborough – Humans are plague on Earth
Humans are a plague on the Earth that need to be controlled by limiting population growth, according to Sir David Attenborough.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/9815862/Humans-are-plague-on-Earth-Attenborough.html
apneaman on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 8:51 pm
It’s official: The human race is earth’s disease
http://www.teemingbrain.com/2009/05/09/its-official-the-human-race-is-earths-disease/
peakyeast on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 9:07 pm
I normally think about John Calhouns experiments when thinking about how humans behave…
There are little to no divergence to be observed.
http://io9.com/how-rats-turned-their-private-paradise-into-a-terrifyin-1687584457
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink
Hubbert on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 9:14 pm
2100
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUWyDWEXH8U
apneaman on Wed, 15th Jul 2015 10:22 pm
Put another ape on the Barbe
Halfway to 2 C — According to NASA, We Just Blew Past an Ominous Milestone
“According to NASA GISS, June of 2015 was tied with 1998 as the hottest of any June in the entire 135 year global climate record. Coming in at +0.76 C above NASA’s 20th Century average, June follows May at +0.73 C (4th hottest), April at +0.71 C (tied for 3rd hottest), March at +0.91 C (second hottest), February at + 0.89 C (hottest), and January at +0.81 C (2nd hottest).
Combined, these average out for a +0.80 C departure from the 20th Century in the NASA measure. That’s an extraordinary amount of heat — +0.18 C above 1998 levels and +0.05 C above 2014, which was the previous hottest year on record.
But, perhaps most importantly, this reading is the first consistent break at 1 C above 1880s levels. An ominous benchmark and halfway to the catastrophic 2 C warming we really, really want to avoid.”
https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/halfway-to-2-c-according-to-nasa-we-just-blew-past-an-ominous-milestone/
Boat on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 3:05 am
No more food exports, no more legal immigration for anyone and no more meat. Population problem solved.
JuanP on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 8:11 am
Apneaman, I want to thank you for all the comments you’ve made and all the links you’ve provided these last months. I’ve found many of them very interesting. You’ve enriched my life. Many thanks! It is not often that I find my interactions with other humans enriching.
Kenz300 on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 8:25 am
Endless population growth is not sustainable.
The least educated people have the most children…
The poorest people have the most children………
conversely
The most educated people have the least children……..
The wealthiest people have the fewest children……………
Hhhhhhhmmmmmmm seems to be a trend here………
——————–
Birth Control Permanent Methods: Learn About Effectiveness
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/birth_control_permanent_methods/article_em.htm
penury on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 9:10 am
After reading the article it appears that the author’s unspoken conclusion is we are all f====ed. Being human we will do nothing, we will collectively continue to breed. What did the U.N> say 88 million more added each year?
joe on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 9:16 am
In poor countries people have lots of kids to support the family unit, in rich countries social welfare supports small families, excess population from poor countries is being absorbed by rich ones for keeping wages down and increasing the consumer base. When rich countries cannot support this madness anymore the results will be rather calamitous.
joe on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 9:20 am
Even logically speaking, what’s the point in efficency and green energy if 50% more people will be alive and need energy?
That means for every one percent of energy saving we really need two percent, forever!
BC on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 9:41 am
http://www.skil.org/
http://skil.org/Qxtras_folder-2/rapidpopdeclineorbust.html
http://www.skil.org/Qxtras_folder-2/overpopulationmeansImurder.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcQYI4yo8mM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfYCrLq1DJU&feature=youtu.be
We’re f&$ked because we f$&ked too much without avoiding impregnation.
Of course Attenborough is correct.
“Z.P.G”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069530/
Humans as a virus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rvuueqs3vI
http://www.amazon.com/Bottleneck-Humanitys-Impending-William-Catton/dp/1441522247
The good news is that the cure for the cancer of human ape overpopulation/overshoot is Catton’s “Bottleneck”, the effects of which we are already witnessing at the weakest links at the energy distribution system around the world; and the situation will only worsen and spread to the affluent core in time.
The other good news is that the log-linear decline trajectory of the rate of change of growth of human apes is approaching the 50% decline point since the 1970s (coincident with the peak of US oil production per capita), which means that the rate of change of deceleration will increase at shorter intervals such that by the early to mid-2020s population will have peaked and decline will begin in the 2030s (absent a thermonuclear war, pandemic, etc.).
Therefore, Nature, including we human apes, is in the process of beginning to solve the overpopulation problem by a kind of zombie apocalypse-like cannibalistic self-annihilation.
I can’t wait for the ensuing chapters of this global, mass-social horror story. The mass die-off is going to be so bloody horrible . . . and AWESOME!!!
apneaman on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 3:28 pm
Death toll from sudden temperature swings may surpass AIDS
“It’s no surprise that a sudden summer heat wave can kill the elderly; it’s a serious public health hazard that will only grow as the world warms. But will more old folks survive milder winters, balancing out the loss of life in the summers?
A new study suggests not. A rise of 1°C in mean summer temperatures killed 1% more people, whereas that same rise in mean winter temperatures saved a mere 0.6%, according to an analysis of death records for nearly 3 million people 65 years and older living in New England from 2000 to 2008. Not only that, but sudden swings in temperature—another phenomenon that could increase along with climate change in some regions—were found to be even worse killers, in either winter or summer.”
http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2015/07/death-toll-sudden-temperature-swings-may-surpass-aids
Oh well, we need to get rid of those high consuming non productive useless eaters anyway…… by grandma 🙁
Boat on Thu, 16th Jul 2015 4:03 pm
US, Europe, Russia and Brazil export the most food. Trillions worth. Why not just end food exports. This may end some off the suffering from heat. If your looking to blame population overshoot look at these 4 countries.
Kenz300 on Fri, 17th Jul 2015 5:15 am
Endless population growth leads to more poverty, suffering and despair.
If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child………
Snip it or wrap it up…….
BobInget on Fri, 17th Jul 2015 9:24 am
We can experience the future today in over crowded cities, countries.
Example; oil rich Niger Delta
Nigeria: (most populous nation in Africa)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wave-of-suicide-bombings-in-nigeria-leave-over-60-dead_55a8f6c5e4b0896514d0
Visit India:
http://benitolink.com/commentary-population-bomb-turned-out-be-guided-missiles
(Muslim population growing 24%)
theedrich on Sat, 18th Jul 2015 4:43 am
Two quotes from articles on overpopulation published by SecularHumanism.org:
“[‘Green’ growth] projects and proposals help address some of the metastasizing crises resulting from ’s still-expanding population and rates of consumption, but so far they haven’t succeeded in changing worrisome consequence trends (warming climate, declining ore grades, depleting fossil fuels, disappearing biodiversity) or resolving the fundamental contradiction between the two realities.” … “To be sure, political realists work overtime to assure one and all that the world can reduce carbon emissions at a minimal cost, or even at a profit. But they do this by deliberately underestimating costs, ignoring differences in energy quality, and overestimating the potential of alternatives to replace oil in the crucial transport and agriculture sectors.” — Richard Heinberg, “Two Realities,” in: Free Inquiry, vol 35 (June/July 2015), issue 4 (“POPULATION, IMMIGRATION, AND THE GLOBAL FUTURE”), p. 26.
“Should currently declining global prosperity growth trajectories persist going forward, both global economic output and global material living standards will peak and enter terminal decline prior to mid-century. Irrespective, however, of humanity’s actual unraveling scenario, the ultimate outcome will be the same. Global competition for increasingly scarce nonrenewable and renewable natural resources will devolve into resource wars, which will devolve into global societal collapse through an ecological/economic/societal chain of events that is being driven by ever-increasing, geologically induced, global NNR [Non-renewable Natural Resource] scarcity.” — Christopher Clugston, “Humanity vs. Nature — Winner Take All!,” in: Free Inquiry, vol 35 (June/July 2015), issue 4 (“POPULATION, IMMIGRATION, AND THE GLOBAL FUTURE”), pp. 32f.
So the planet has about three and a half decades left before TSHTF.
theedrich on Sat, 18th Jul 2015 4:49 am
Slight correction in the first line of the above quote from Heinberg:
“crises resulting from humanity’s still-expanding population” …
Davy on Sat, 18th Jul 2015 5:50 am
Thee said “So the planet has about three and a half decades left before TSHTF.” Yea, Thee, if we could only be so lucky. The majority of thinkers underestimate the issues when considered in a system dynamics and peak oil dynamics context. I don’t think the current system in its present configuration can last more than a few more years. We appear to be in between that bumpy plateau and bumpy descent.
I say this because I am not sure we are in the descent yet but it appears that way. Descent will be the end of the current systematic configuration of globalism in all its manifestations political, economic, and social. Our system must grow and grow relatively robustly with on average 3%. Population must grow in this configuration or growth is adversely affected. Population and consumption are near or at limits. Population may continue to grow but the pressures will mount. I see no way 80MIL a year more population can go on more than 5 years. Significant population pressures could develop anytime from failed states, war, or food insecurity.
Descent will be random with variable time frames. Will we have a modest step down or significant economic drops? We cannot predict these occurrences accurately like we can with growth. We can acknowledge the details but forecasting where this will take us is beyond the scope of our abilities. How does one forecast random events of decay and the knock on effects? Try to mathematically describe a turbulence. You can’t because it is random. We are entering a time of dysfunction, economic abandonment, and irrational policy. How can you judge that with an accurate prediction?
I have been at this 10 years now as a student of doom. I have been following this daily. I am amazed at the resilience of our system but I know it is not sustainable. In the past year I have seen some serious cracks in growth. Oil price drop, China, Greece, and Fed failure to normalize are just some of the issues. This cold war with Russia and economic multi-polar-ism with the Brics spells trouble for the geopolitical and global economy.
We are now seeing amazing climate change happenings making me believe we could be near an abrupt climate shift. Food production is the most vital element to our global system. Food is taken for granted. We take for granted food production with fossil fuels and stable climate. One year of very poor global food production and we may never recover. Once we get behind the food curve with a growing population all bets are off for the current global configuration to be business-as-usual. Food shortages, insecurity, and famine mean failed states and failed states mean a failed global system.
I try to look at the human global systematic like water. Water phase change takes allot of energy and time. When it approaches a change the change is abrupt. We have been in a boil for some time now I personally thing we will phase change soon. Yet, what does that mean? What is the time frame? For me 10 years is an eternity. For life it is nothing. In 10 years I will probably not remember any of your names or what in particular we talked about.
If I must predict I will say what I have been saying for 10 years now. I predict in 3-5 years a collapse of business as usual with 10 years a long shot but possible. That’s funny because that is a rolling prediction for 10 years now. I feel stupid predicting it but I don’t know what else to say.
The degree and duration of this break is not predictable in the short term. In the long term we will have to have a population rebalance to 500Mil to 1BIL people in a generation. Consumption will have to lower to pre-fossil fuel level minus the loss of high quality resources no longer available. We then deduct for a destabilized climate. We then deduct ecosystems destruction and failures some of which will repair but many are gone forever and will have to evolve into something else. Evolution takes millions of years. These deductions point more towards 500MIL than 1BIL.
So pretty bleak my friends. I am being honest. Many other can’t tell it like it is or people do not listen. Many people have to sell books and ideas. I am just a doomer and preppers with no following so I could give a shit what you all think.
What can we do? We can be honest and start the process of adapting and mitigating a crash. We can do this locally. I am not sure this can be done at the top where it should be done. Effort at the top is to be seen once we enter a crisis. It is not beyond the scope of our human abilities to adapt globally but I am afraid the odds are against it. In any case considering the degree of descent needed does it matter?
Most of us here must die and without replacements. Most of our complexity must decay and disappear. In one generation man will be transformed or go extinct. The best we can do is have a spiritual transformation into something higher spiritually but it will not be physically. Yet, being back in harmony with nature is probably a higher physical attribute we just don’t think that way these days. Friends that is frankly mind numbing. Please tell me I am insane and need medication.
GregT on Sat, 18th Jul 2015 11:11 am
Have you seen this Davy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones
Davy on Sat, 18th Jul 2015 12:44 pm
No Greg that is new to me. Looks like something of interest in an otherwise quiet part of the south.
theedrich on Sat, 18th Jul 2015 5:34 pm
Yes, Davy, you may be right. Perhaps I should have written that we have at most three and a half decades left. The only problem is that, as has been said, it is hard to make predictions, especially about the future. The ability of politicians and financial experts to kick the can down the road (thereby ensuring an even more catastrophic collapse) and to practice hypocrisy cannot be overestimated. Who would have thought that the EU could have contorted the banking rules so much as to keep Greece on indefinite life support? In the U.S., the current regime has faked the jobless numbers and jacked up the welfare bennies, plus employed QE, ZIRP, reserve-currency inflation, etc., to give an appearance of “recovery” in a clearly deteriorating national condition. Illegal immigration is clandestinely promoted by the regime as a way to fake an improving economy by reducing costs (through serfdom, that is). The political repercussions of admitting the truth would amount to enormous upheaval.
Since the masses cannot handle the truth, the only thing to feed them is pie in the sky, a trick borrowed from religion. America will be the last bastion standing, so the rest of the failing world will want to come here. We will be unable to prevent the influx, because otherwise we will be accused of being “racists” — another tool of Christian propaganda now being used by the financial Masters of the Universe. That process will unquestionably accelerate our demise, but to the very end the American Camp of the Saints will continue in its fantasies about being an “exception” to evolution. Given such strenuous and ingenious attempts to continue the BAU mirage as long as possible, I do not think we can assign an exact date to collapse.