Population growth plays a key role

Global warming is “unequivocal,” according to the recently released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The most likely culprits are people – all of us. Yet there never has been much public discussion about the role of human population growth in global warming.

According to professor Timothy Dyson of the London School of Economics, a 40 percent cut by 2050 in per capita carbon emissions in the developed world could be canceled by global population growth.


It’s time to open a “second front” in the battle against global warming by stressing the need for population stabilization – sooner rather than later.

Scientists warn that temperatures will continue to rise unless we stabilize greenhouse gas levels. Global warming will be accompanied by increased sea levels resulting in massive flooding of homes and destruction of fragile wetland habitats. To slow this process, experts report that global CO2 emissions must be slashed.

Yet the United Nations projects that by 2050, world population will rise 40 percent to more than 9 billion. And even if we change our ways, the environmental footprint of each human being will never reach zero. As population increases, the challenge of slowing climate change becomes ever more difficult.

Baltimore Sun