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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
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Is world population out of control and dooming the environment?
http://www.populationaction.org/Video/Weathering_Change/Summary.php
Or are there already signs that peak has nearly been reached?
http://www.wix.com/aliandthecamel/peoplequake#!vstc0=about
Can we cope with the population we've got? Can we cope with more?
What do you think? |
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Veteran
Posts: 275
| Interesting topic - I think there's a good correlation between population density and environmental damage, and there's probably also a good correlation between wealth and environmental damage. In the long term (difficult to say how long) we have to live within the renewable resources of the planet, we can't continue indefinitely to extract more than is replaced. I include in "renewable resources" water, food, energy and the ability to cycle wastes. So in those terms, to live sustainably, maybe we have a choice between a lot of people with a meager existence, or fewer people using more resources. Unfortunately we seem to be heading for a lot of people using a lot of resources, which won't work for very long.
There are also rather scary things that could start to happen as the population peaks - we're already seeing ageing populations in developed countries, with an increasing burden on smaller numbers of younger people. I think a smaller population is very desirable, but achieving it is going to be uncomfortable - the logical answer (which we do with wild deer populations, for example) is a cull of the older folk, but that raises obvious ethical questions! Meanwhile, we seem to devote more and more NHS resources to keeping people alive a bit longer, which isn't really desirable for the population as a whole, although of course it is usually desirable for the individuals involved. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Interesting new study on the interaction between population growth, climate change and development in Africa.
http://populationaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/PAI-AFIDEP.p... |
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Regular
Posts: 80
| World population is projected to Peak at 9 billion in 2050.
Key factors in reducing the rate of population growth are Womens Rights. Educating girls, allowing them to have careers, own property and generally allowing Women control of there own bodies has seen World birthrates drop from 7 children per Women to 5 in the last couple of decades. Add to that better heath care to decrease child mortality and you have a situation where you no longer have to give birth to 7 children to insure that at least 2 live until adulthood.
The key question with population usually centres around whether or not we can feed 9 billion people.
From what i can gather we already produce enough food to feed the World and end starvation but we don't do it.
Industrial food production from farming method to transport to food processing to supermarket to consumers sees us wasting anything from 25 - 50 % of the food that we produce. Add to that food grown for other things like Cosmetics and Biofuels and the question is not could we but why we don't.
Of course it comes back to the Money system.
That aside ( as Martin pointed out ) there is the issue of resources.
As we all know sometime called Overshoot is one of our biggest problems. This is when the world population consumes more resources than the the planet can replace in a year.
Can the world support 9 billion+ people? Can it support 7 billion+? The answer is actually another question. What kind of lifestyle do you want? If you want the the High energy lifestyle of the Developed/ Western world, then the answer is no. You would be lucky to support 1 billion, maybe 2 billion, people.
However if we were to accept a low energy future, using 10% - 20% of the resources we currently use ( at least in the West) and radically change the we produce, use and think about, food, then we may have a shot at it.
The big BUT in all this is Peak Oil. If we choose not to change, use the remaining fossil fuels in a conrolled and intelligent manner, but insist that change is thrust upon us, what happen to population growth then.
Resent blog posts that i have read suggest that in a post peak world Womens rights will be erroded. A decline in heathcare could result in increased child mortality. And what happens to education?
All the reports that i read try to predict the future based on the legacy data, which means continuing with business as usual. But of course we know that is no longer possible.
So what will the real future look like? What could it look like? It's up to us.
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Regular
Posts: 80
| Also some stats to lose sleep over.
Around one-third of babies born in 2012 in the United Kingdom are expected to survive to celebrate their 100th birthday
More than 95,000 people aged 65 in 2012 are expected to celebrate their 100th birthday in 2047
The total number of centenarians is projected to rise from 14,500 in 2012 to 110,000 in 2035
But of course that doesn't there will be anymore people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_Scotland
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 319
| Scottish population seems to have stayed remarkably stable. So why all the need for new houses? I think we need to get our spare rooms filled up! Thinking of some students. |
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Regular
Posts: 80
| Again 100 reasons
Fewer children. More Adults. More single adults?
Number of houses available will always lag behind demand for housing, it's how the game is played.
Then there is the estate agents Mandra "Location, location, Location"
Even Holiday/ second homes take homes in rural areas out of the picture.
this article suggests that the Next generations demand for housing is completely at odds with those that have already been built. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/24/4583230/the-conversation-our-new-l... . And also that "empty nesters" are getting the downsizing message.
There are reported 1 million properties that are long term empty so do we really need new homes? Affordable housing especially social and rental properties. Personally more projects where social housing is build by those who are going to live there is needed. I feel this would give them marketable skill, self worth and a connection the the community. |
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population studies
