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Post by Tex on Feb 28, 2005 8:38:39 GMT -6
When Paul Ehrlich wrote his Population Bomb in 1970, it set off a firestorm of controversy. Whether his predictions have come true depend on where you live. In the US, Canada, western Europe and a few other places (generally the more prosperous parts of the globe), population (excepting immigration) is more or less stable. In the poorest parts of the world (Africa and parts of Asia in particular) populations have mushroomed and so have starvation, disease, etc.
While I am not convinced with any certainty of the manmade emissions/CO2/global warming scenarios, I must say that they are a possibility. We can be sure that natural resources are getting tapped pretty hard, the best beachfront property is taken, and plenty of places are getting very crowded. There are still some wide open spaces here in Texas, but they are getting fewer and further between.
I don't doubt that technology might make it possible to support a greater population, but why? Many of the problems we have would become much more manageable if only there weren't so many people. Maybe it's time to revisit this issue.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Feb 28, 2005 10:53:25 GMT -6
Tex... Unfortunately, if you caught the report late last week... The population of the world is supposed to rise by 2 billion to about 9.5 billion by mid-century. Almost ALL of that growth will occur in the under developed nations, and the LEAST developed nations will triple in population. www.unfpa.org/sustainable/facts.htmAnd you can be sure that it wont just be their problem... as we get richer (per capita) and they get poorer (per capita), those areas willl just become breeding grounds for more and more of the fanaticism that we have already seen. The gulf in prosperity being only an excuse for the desperate to strike out at us. No matter how you slice it, its not a pretty picture, and no... technology aint gonna bail us out for much longer. The population bomb is going off right now... its just not where Ehrlich thought (I seem to recall he was most concerned about the developed world). Gordon Editted to add... If someone feels that disease or famine will play a major factor, consider the MAGNITUDE that would be required to eliminate 2 billion people, and consider the global ramifications of THAT prospect!
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Post by DT on Feb 28, 2005 12:40:28 GMT -6
Oh My, Went one toke over the line and thinks wow what if we had so many folks we would out weigh the earth Yup, Population Control would be the answer
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Post by Chicago Jake on Feb 28, 2005 13:09:41 GMT -6
I remember reading a long time ago, some pundit in the early 1800s stated that the population of the US would never exceed 10 million (or some such number; I don't remember the exact quote), because we don't have enough fertile land to graze the HORSES we would need to support our civilization.
Technology has a way of ch-ch-changing the rules of the game on you in ways that are difficult to imagine beforehand......Jake
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 1, 2005 6:56:44 GMT -6
Jake
THe game that needs to be afoot right now is not technology... it humanity. There is enough food to adequately feed everyone right now... its just that politics gets in the way, but to add another 2 billion in just 40+ years.. every harvest everywhere will need to be ideal, one drought, or one war would be enough to tip the balence big time. THe other factor to consider is that most of the growth will be in urban areas, pack enough people into a small enough space, and just see what happens if people get really hungry.
Remember that most of the growth will be in the already overcrowded areas of Africa and Asia.
Gordon
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Post by Tex on Mar 1, 2005 7:27:03 GMT -6
I don't doubt that it's technologically possible to support more people, but I doubt the wisdom of it. At some point, overpopulation starts to seriously degrade quality of life. Much of Asia is already there. Our friend is a physician (director of USA Doctors for Africa) who is assessing Ethiopia's medical infrastructure and doing volunteer work there. He tells me of a land where the population has outstripped the ability of the land to produce. Much of east and south Asia is a jammed packed mass of people and exhaust fumes. The beaches of Vietnam are still beautiful, but don't swim. The tremendous volume of sewage attracts deadly sea snakes and the water is full of garbage.
I am not trying to sound apocolyptic warnings about the population, but I don't see the upside to adding a few more billion people.
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Post by DT on Mar 1, 2005 7:43:19 GMT -6
The quickest way to war is through a hungry belly...
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 2, 2005 8:40:10 GMT -6
I remember reading a long time ago, some pundit in the early 1800s stated that the population of the US would never exceed 10 million (or some such number; I don't remember the exact quote), because we don't have enough fertile land to graze the HORSES we would need to support our civilization. Technology has a way of ch-ch-changing the rules of the game on you in ways that are difficult to imagine beforehand......Jake BTW Jake... consider that an additional 2 billion by mid-century is the equivalent to adding the current combined populations of India AND China in the next 40 years
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Post by Chicago Jake on Mar 2, 2005 17:26:46 GMT -6
That's it, I'm going into a new line of business: Manufacturing and exporting chopsticks and forehead-dots.....Jake
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Post by Tex on Mar 2, 2005 17:33:40 GMT -6
That's it, I'm going into a new line of business: Manufacturing and exporting chopsticks and forehead-dots.....Jake Since the color of the dots is a big deal, how about a plastic surgery dot upgrade clinic?
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Post by Chicago Jake on Mar 2, 2005 18:10:55 GMT -6
These will be mood-dots, that ch-ch-change color with your emotions. With that many folks around, it will be important to understand their state of mind in minimal time....Jake
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Post by DT on Mar 2, 2005 23:32:54 GMT -6
"The supply of Soylent Green has been exhausted. The scoops are on the way."
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 3, 2005 6:48:10 GMT -6
"The supply of Soylent Green has been exhausted. The scoops are on the way." OH... THAT Charleton Heston...
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