Is the world ready for the world's rapidly growing population?

Question

A baby is born about every minute, so what will we do if the population of the people get out of hand? Pollution is caused by us individually,what will happen to us when pullotion gets out of hand?

Answer 1

In the media you will see abundant forecasts of the ways in which our civilisation might end, from asteroid collision through viruses to global warming.

In your question you have dared to open the almost taboo subject of over-population which you, I believe rightly, infer is one of the fundamental threats to humanity's survival - perhaps the greatest.

Few seem inclined to enter into any serious discussion on this topic, the reason being that the implications of population control confront most of our basic social, religious and (most of all) political beliefs and principles.

The issue goes further than just the number of people on the planet and here I would remark that your estimate of the world-wide birth rate is probably about two orders of magnitude below reality.

In the last 100 years or so the mechanism of natural selection, as the means of controlling the numbers and the health of all the world's living creatures, has been almost replaced (for humans in the developed countries at least) by a balance between over-abundant food, medicine, medical and health care, against the degenerative diseases of over-eating, lack of exercise and age - and for animals by gradual extermination (almost) of all those we (the humans)don't "need". You can add gross human rights issues for many in under-developed lands. The result is that now there are already far too many people and what you refer to as "pollution" is already well out of hand.

Our numbers continue to grow, unchecked by nature. Scientific progress and the views that we cling to so ardently, on the sanctity of human life and our human rights and freedoms enable and support those to survive and breed who would, in nature, have had no chance to do so. This serves only to weaken the stock. The fact is that individual human life is no longer all that important and the world would be a better place without half of us. Yet we interminably mourne even a few dead and the infinite and unending pain of their absence is often grounds for huge compensation claims by those left behind. Nature gives us no rights or freedoms. We have contrived these for our own convenience. It also doesn't enjoy death but at least it is accepted and the struggle to survive continues.

Your question, then is highly relevant but the real question is --who can face up to it and come up with good solutions? No politician in the west would touch it. The only suggestion I've seen is that we look for a new planet. The Chinese have their one child policy - at least an attempt but it largely serves to show just how difficult the problem is - in a few years their population will be grossly over-aged.

Perhaps you begin to see why no-one is inclined to touch this horror subject. Probably we are destined to continue justifying our actions in our entrenched principles and trying to patch things up (global warming) as we go along, but basically avoiding the real problem. Social pressures will continue to rise as space becomes increasingly scarce. Perhaps our only hope is to survive in a cycle of highly destructive but not catastrophic wars which eliminate much but not all of the population - a pretty crude form of "not very natural selection"! But how to control these to achieve our survival???

I look forward to reading your other answers.

Bramble

Answer 2

Not pollution out of control. The problem will happen at about 10 billion and the shortage of materials will ignite a war that will need to kill at least 3 billion people ,not a pretty site. This is civilization?????

Answer 3

the world cannot handle population growth and
it is suspected that controlling factors have been at play already for quite a while

but even so our natural resources and especially food production are reaching critical levels as well as fresh water supplies

people use and need land,so more and more is being changed to accomodate human growth and devellopment

Over the last half century,
Population growth & rising incomes have tripled world grain demand from 640 million tons to 1,855 million

In the near future the global farming community will not be able to feed every body ,food prices will continue to rise. .

and each year pressures on water supplies are increasing with 70 million more people drinking cooking and washing ,not to mention Irrigation for agriculture which consumes 70% of all water supplies



SUGESTED SOLUTIONS
at a meeting in Kopenhagen in 1998 it was suggested to bring the world population down by 60%,one cannot help but wonder at how this would be archieved

population control in the past and present

War (past .present and future)
Natures way disease(today,past and future)
Manufactured disease(suspected today)
cures that kill(suspected today)
poisoned consumer goods (suspected today)
making children infertile or gay,by raising the PH level in drinking water or even drinks (suspected today)
birth control,(in the past the Olmecs women ate yams to make them infertile,today we have several methods but most reach only the educated ,i handed out condoms to an native Mazatecca comunity in oaxaca ,and the church retrieved them all )
education on birth control(not enough,again the poor regions are excluded )
laws that limit childbirth per family(China)

human sacrifice,may be the best option the remains to be used for compost and symbolic titbits(Mayas ,Aztecs,druids)
remember Soylent green ,

Answer 4

Pollution is already out of hand and as for the earth being able to support all the extra humans-no.

Answer 5

no,the world is not ready for such drastic rise in population because the food production is in arithmetic progression(1,2,3,4) whereas the population rise is in geometrical progression(1,2,4,8). well, what we can do is just wait for the time when world realises that 10 babies are born per minute and then 20 and then30 and so on............

Answer 6

i think of that Bush, Jr. released between the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. a million lifeless Arabic human beings...and counting. Why do you think of that human beings have not have been given any commonly used wellness care? What racial group has the least? provide up?