By the end of this decade the world population will be pushing 7 billion or more.
What is the sustainable population of our world?
A little biology…
The balance of nature is the apparent stability of the population density between the many species of organisms that make up a biotic community. Population density of each of the species in a biotic community may fluctuate more or less widely from time to time for a variety of reasons and it is a fact that the density of no species remains at a fixed level. The fluctuations in the numbers of each species, however, usually have definite limits. It is important to keep some kind of equilibrium. Fluctuations will occur from season to season and year to year where some species increase in numbers and others decrease but as long as these numbers are kept fairly constant those that increase don't increase to such an extent as to deplete food sources then all will be well.
How much abuse can our world take?
The Earth is very resilient and can recover from any abuse us humans wreck havoc with but it needs time to recover…time that we are not allowing. We pollute and disrupt our environment every single day but few of us do anything to aid in the recovery of our environment. We consume natural resources at an ever-increasing rate…a rate more than 1,000,000 times that of which the earth is suspected to have produced it and with an ever-increasing population (an increase of about 77 million a year and that number is rising) the rate of consumption will only increase. Sooner or later something will give and a point of no return will be reached for us. The earth can and will recover but can we recover from the abuse we dish out. Sure…go ahead and look around…tell yourself everything is fine now (or is it just an illusion)…but if things continue as they are look around 10, 100 or 1000 years from now and the illusion will no longer remain hidden from view.
In order to answer the question (if it can be answered) “what is the sustainable population of our world?” then there must be other questions asked and answered first.
What standard of living are we talking about?
Are we talking about living as the caveman , modern day industrialized times or perhaps somewhere in between or in the future?
What technological advances from today forward would allow for a higher population?
This is the tricky one…things could happen that could make us less dependant on natural resources…increase crop production and any number of things.
What amount of drinkable water is available?
This is an important one because without water there is no life and every single day there is less and less natural drinkable water and without current technology and future technology to produce more drinkable water from undrinkable water this could be the item that provides the answer to sustainable life on earth.
What are the available natural resources?
Without humanity becoming less dependant on natural resources and more caring of our environment we are doomed…period whether you believe it or not…stick around and you will find out.
What is the amount of energy that is producible to sustain life as we know it?
The answer to this question is dependant on what types of energy production…we are already exceeding the capacity if we are talking about fossil fuel to energy…but if we move away from fossil fuels toward other types of energy production the number rises.
And we could continue asking question after question but I think the ones above will suffice and you can add more if you wish…
From the questions and answers above you can see that the answer to the question “What is the sustainable population of our world?” can have a wide range. That range by various “experts” (I always use the term expert loosely) is between 1 billion and 1 trillion but most fall between 10 and 50 billion with each answer having the tag line “depending upon”.
The two main dependencies are the amount of food and energy production in relation to consumption. Population growth coupled with consumption of natural resources lies at the center of any discussion of a sustainable world. In 1798 Thomas Malthus predicted that the geometric growth of population would be stabilized by starvation, war and disease and so far he was wrong. But all three could yet happen and make him correct in his prediction. The world can produce only so much food on an annual sustainable basis. Currently the amount of food and energy that can be produced is in many ways dependant on the environment and energy production and the energy produced currently is dependant for the most part on fossil fuels which as stated before are being used at a far faster rate than many believe they were produced by nature. We are also depleting the other 10 million plus species that share the earth at a rate never seen before in human history. In other words we have survived, by using up resources in just a few centuries that took hundreds of millions of years to form or evolve.
I will end here and ask…what are your thoughts?
Last edited by Eiregirl on Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:50 am
Salaam86
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 49
Location: USA, IL
China controls it's population through a one child per couple law. Could be useful to other nations at some point as well.
Wed Aug 16, 2006 2:53 am
Start Over
Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 222
Location: Somewhere in the cosmos
Sal, don't you mean "forced abortion?" I sure as hell don't want the government telling me how many children I can have.
Start
Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:25 am
Khaleesi Moderators
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 551
Location: FL
Hmmm.... i also understand that in China somehow little girls tend to disappear because families want male children. Doesn't seem like a good system to me.
slaveofMistress _________________ Hike up your skirt a little more and show your world to me.....
Never start a row in public when it can be settled politely in private. ~My Father~
Ultimately population control can take care of itself…if you don’t mind famine, plagues, wars and the like but would you like to lessen or eliminate most or all of those?
How?
Take a look at the world at large…those who have the highest birthrates are the poor and poverty stricken.
Do not lift and prop them up…give them a hand and let them pull themselves up and this will lessen the potential problem.
What else could be done?
Eiregirl
Wed Aug 16, 2006 7:21 am
Salaam86
Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 49
Location: USA, IL
...
Last edited by Salaam86 on Mon Nov 27, 2006 5:00 am; edited 1 time in total
quote:Originally posted by Salaam86:
no i didn't even know they did that in china.
i didn't mean anything like that, god no. thats awful.
i'm still really upset from the chat conversation earlier, i just feel like i'm being ragged on tonight and just wish everyone would leave me alone.
Ragged on about what?
Eiregirl
Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:44 am
Start Over
Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 222
Location: Somewhere in the cosmos
Sorry Sal, I certainly didn't mean to upset you again.
Start
Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:38 am
1seed
Joined: 18 Dec 2005
Posts: 93
Location: midwest, USA
Eire,
A lot to ponder. Thank you for posting this. Sustainable living is something most of us don't think a whole lot about. I am an urban(small) organic farmer that lives, believes and supports sustainable agriculture. Basically sustainable means putting back what you take away. This is very important in agriculture and as you have pointed out very important in the world as a whole.
We are all responsible! We also have a government that doesn't believe or is just now acknowledging global warming. Until we accept it and do our part as a country all our resources will be depleted. We here people that are naive say it won't happen in my lifetime why should I care. You should care it is happening right now.
There are so many things we can do - recycling, reusing, supporting LOCAL agriculture, stop using chemicals on our lawns, join the Sierra club. My personal favorite STOP shopping at freaking Wally World.
Eire, thank you!
If you want to talk more about this I am up for it. Right now my fingers are starting to feel numb after being on the puter all morning.
A lot to ponder. Thank you for posting this. Sustainable living is something most of us don't think a whole lot about. I am an urban(small) organic farmer that lives, believes and supports sustainable agriculture. Basically sustainable means putting back what you take away. This is very important in agriculture and as you have pointed out very important in the world as a whole.
We are all responsible! We also have a government that doesn't believe or is just now acknowledging global warming. Until we accept it and do our part as a country all our resources will be depleted. We here people that are naive say it won't happen in my lifetime why should I care. You should care it is happening right now.
There are so many things we can do - recycling, reusing, supporting LOCAL agriculture, stop using chemicals on our lawns, join the Sierra club. My personal favorite STOP shopping at freaking Wally World.
Eire, thank you!
If you want to talk more about this I am up for it. Right now my fingers are starting to feel numb after being on the puter all morning.
Seed
1seed,
I would be happy to continue with this discussion
Hugs,
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
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