Humans are now the most numerous mammal on the planet. There are more humans than rats or mice. Humans have a huge ecological footprint, magnified by their technology.
Dr. David Suzuki (1936-03-24 age:82)
You cannot sustain population growth and / or growth in the rates of consumption of resources.
~ Dr. Albert A. Bartlett (1923-03-21 age:95)
world population over the last 25,000 years |
The population clock above may differ from others since this one is based on US Census data and others may be based on UN (United Nations) data. UN data gives higher population estimates. You are free to include this clock on your own website.
There have never been more people on Earth. There have never been more cows on Earth, nor pigs, nor chickens. We are using more pesticides today than at any other time in history and we are losing a greater percentage of the crops. At the same time, there has never been less clean water on Earth. There has never been less available topsoil, nor fewer fish, nor fewer mature trees. There has never been less cause for optimism for the future of the human race. Our natural resources are disappearing at an unbelievable rate and our so-called leaders offer only cosmetic solutions. The Earth’s population calls for more of everything while the Earth demands time to recover from years of abuse.
~ Howard Lyman (1938-09-17 age:79)
You can see from this graph of world population growth the incredible extra burden we are putting on the earth’s carrying capacity, especially in Asia and the Pacific.
The growth in population is very much bound up with poverty and in turn poverty plunders the earth. When human groups are dying of hunger, they eat everything: grass, insects, everything. They cut down the trees, they leave the land dry and bare. All other concerns vanish. That’s why in the next thirty years the problems we call environmental will be the hardest that humanity has to face.
~ Tenzin Gyatso (1935-07-06 age:82) the fourteenth Dalai Lama
Most animals don’t need to concern themselves with overpopulation. Predators take care of the problem. For predators, starvation handles it. On average only two offspring survive to adulthood, even when an animal has millions of young. Yet we humans have developed technology to strip the land bare and pile layer upon layer of humanity, protected by vaccines. No matter how densely we pack ourselves in, we still strive for ever higher populations out of an ancient biological imperative. It shows up in our outdated religious beliefs. They still push for maximal fecundity even though such fecundity is no longer appropriate. People also have children for status reasons. They also have children to provide for them in their old age. Social institutions refuse to adjust to the new reality of overpopulation.
Single cell organisms normally do all they can to split and become two. However, in multi-celled organisms this urge has to be curtailed. When cells refuse to behave and consider the life of the organism as a whole, they reproduce at will and become a cancer. Similarly in civilisations, there are some groups that refuse to curb their reproduction. Christians and Muslims who resist birth control are the analog of cancer on the body politic.
During the Gadafi ouster, a man from Libya mentioned that he had 70 cousins, a number of whom he had never seen. To avoid a population explosion, you must not have more than 4 first cousins.
~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)
If your parents were environmentally irresponsible and had more than two children, you and your siblings can compensate to correct the mini population explosion by limiting yourself to four children among you.We must change the archaic attitudes towards breeding. It must become socially unacceptable. This is quite a revolution in our thinking. The urge to breed is so strong it will prevail against almost any social pressure. There is no worry about going too far. If we do, we can adjust.
~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)
For example here are some approaches that have been tried, not all of which are very palatable:
- The first homo sapiens walked the earth 200,000 years ago.
- It took until 1804 for the global population to reach 1 billion.
- 123 years later in 1927, it reached 2 billion.
- 33 years later in 1960, it reached 3 billion.
- 14 years later in 1974 it reached 4 billion.
- 13 years later in 1987 it reached 5 billion.
- 12 years later in 1999 it reached 6 billion.
- Today it reached 7 billion.
- In 2025 it is projected to hit 12 billion.
You can see the problem, called exponential growth. The more people there are, the more people there are having babies and the faster the population grows. The only remotely palatable solution is to lower the birth rate. Each family must have fewer than two children.
~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)
Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries.
~ Henry Kissinger (1923-05-27 age:94)
America has focused almost exclusively on increasing the death rate. This is a startling thing to say, but look at her actions, not George W. Bush’s fine speeches.
In some societies, parents prefer to have male children. It might be wise not to interfere. Why?
It is hard enough to get people to control their rabbit instincts. Let us not interfere with sex selection as a means of population control that does not need a hard sell.
I have severe doubts that we can support even two billion if they all live like citizens of the U.S. The world can support a lot more vegetarian saints than Hummer-driving idiots.
~ Paul Ehrlich (1932-05-29 age:85)
Many western countries have achieved a negative population growth if you discount immigration.
Even in North Africa, regarded as the great exception to the shrinking population trend, birthrates have dropped somewhat. Egypt’s, for example, went from 5.4 births per woman in 1970 to 3.6 in 1999.
If all you do is teach people how to use birth control and provide women with access to it, you don’t need any coercion. In Africa people still have large families, but that is because there is no old age security other than children. When that security is provided, family size automatically shrinks because birth control frees women to other things besides raise babies.
Can you think of any problem, in any area of human endeavor, on any scale, from microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted, or advanced by further increases in population, locally, nationally, or globally?Corporations have magnified the power of human greed to widen the wealth gap. They have encouraged conspicuous consumption. Religions are still goading their adherents to breed faster than any other sect. At the same time the power of the earth to sustain is waning through the end of oil (upon which the green revolution is based), the erosion of soil, pesticide and chemical contamination of soil and water, urban sprawl into the prime farm land and global warming which is destabilising climate and rain.
~ Dr. Albert A. Bartlett (1923-03-21 age:95)
Too many things have to go right for us to get out of this one without massive pain. It is just not going to happen. Most of the world are like pigs in a trough trampling the environment not thinking about anything other than their immediate gratification. All we can do is try to make it not quite so awful, to preserve at least a few acres from the ravening caterpillars that humanity have become, so that at least there will be islands of life to reseed the earth after the human plague has passed. We humans are the biggest extinction event in the history of the planet, wiping out even more species than the asteroid that hit earth and ended the age of the dinosaurs. Being proud of being human is like being proud of being an Ebola virus.
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.
~ Joni Mitchell (1943-11-07 age:74), Big Yellow Taxi
In 1986 the earth had 5 billion people. They were using all of the sustainable resources.
Ever since we have been running that might be called an environmental deficit budget which is only sustained by plundering our capital base.
By that I mean:
At the rate we are going, we would need 2 whole planets to sustain our rapacious appetites in 2050. Something has obviously got to give — most pleasantly our wasteful use of energy.
Canada dropped from rank 23 to 43. The USA dropped from rank 43 to 51.
Americans are paying more than anyone else in the world and receiving third world quality health care. Clearly they are being ripped off, but Americans are too proud to admit it. They live under the delusion their health care must be the best in the world simply because it is the most expensive and has the most TV ads touting it.
Infant Mortality Rates 2012 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Rank | Country | IMR | Notes |
1 | Monaco | 1.80 | best in the world |
2 | Japan | 2.21 | |
3 | Bermuda | 2.47 | |
4 | Singapore | 2.65 | |
5 | Sweden | 2.74 | So much for the canard that socialised medicine does not work. |
6 | Hong Kong | 2.90 | Not quite what you would expect. |
7 | Macau | 3.17 | |
8 | Iceland | 3.18 | |
9 | Italy | 3.36 | |
10 | Spain | 3.37 | |
11 | Finland | 3.40 | |
12 | France | 3.40 | |
13 | Anguilla | 3.44 | |
14 | Norway | 3.50 | |
15 | Germany | 3.51 | |
16 | Guernsey | 3.52 | |
17 | Malta | 3.65 | |
18 | Belarus | 3.70 | |
19 | Czech Republic | 3.70 | |
20 | Netherlands | 3.73 | |
21 | Andorra | 3.76 | |
22 | Ireland | 3.81 | |
23 | Switzerland | 3.90 | |
24 | Jersey | 3.94 | |
25 | Israel | 4.07 | |
26 | Korea, South | 4.08 | |
27 | Slovenia | 4.12 | |
28 | Denmark | 4.19 | |
29 | Austria | 4.26 | |
30 | Isle of Man | 4.27 | |
31 | Belgium | 4.28 | |
32 | Liechtenstein | 4.39 | |
33 | Luxembourg | 4.39 | |
34 | European Union | 4.49 | |
35 | Australia | 4.55 | |
36 | United Kingdom | 4.56 | |
37 | Portugal | 4.60 | |
38 | Taiwan | 4.60 | |
39 | Wallis and Futuna | 4.61 | |
40 | San Marino | 4.65 | |
41 | New Zealand | 4.72 | |
42 | Cuba | 4.83 | |
43 | Canada | 4.85 | Rose from 4.69 under the Conservative Harper government. |
44 | French Polynesia | 4.88 | |
45 | Greece | 4.92 | |
46 | Hungary | 5.24 | |
47 | New Caledonia | 5.62 | |
48 | Guam | 5.70 | |
49 | Northern Mariana Islands | 5.70 | |
50 | Faroe Islands | 5.94 | |
51 | United States | 6.00 | |
52 | Croatia | 6.06 | |
53 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 6.10 | |
54 | Lithuania | 6.18 | |
55 | Serbia | 6.40 | |
56 | Poland | 6.42 | |
57 | Slovakia | 6.47 | |
58 | Cayman Islands | 6.49 | |
59 | Gibraltar | 6.55 | |
60 | Qatar | 6.81 | |
61 | Estonia | 6.94 | |
62 | Virgin Islands | 7.10 | |
63 | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | 7.29 | |
64 | Russia | 7.30 | |
65 | Chile | 7.40 | |
66 | Kuwait | 7.87 | |
67 | Puerto Rico | 8.10 | |
68 | Latvia | 8.24 | |
69 | Macedonia | 8.32 | |
70 | Ukraine | 8.38 | |
71 | Nauru | 8.51 | |
72 | Cyprus | 9.05 | |
73 | Costa Rica | 9.20 | |
74 | American Samoa | 9.40 | |
75 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 9.43 | |
76 | Uruguay | 9.44 | |
77 | Sri Lanka | 9.47 | |
78 | Greenland | 9.83 | |
79 | Bahrain | 10.20 | |
80 | Botswana | 10.49 | |
81 | Argentina | 10.52 | |
82 | Fiji | 10.73 | |
83 | Romania | 10.73 | |
84 | Grenada | 11.12 | |
85 | Brunei | 11.15 | |
86 | Mauritius | 11.20 | |
87 | Panama | 11.32 | |
88 | Seychelles | 11.35 | |
89 | United Arab Emirates | 11.59 | |
90 | Barbados | 11.63 | |
91 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 11.63 | |
92 | Palau | 12.10 | |
93 | Dominica | 12.38 | |
94 | Saint Lucia | 12.39 | |
95 | Aruba | 12.51 | |
96 | Libya | 12.70 | |
97 | Bahamas, The | 13.09 | |
98 | Tonga | 13.21 | |
99 | Moldova | 13.65 | |
100 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 13.86 | |
101 | Albania | 14.12 | |
102 | Antigua and Barbuda | 14.17 | |
103 | Jamaica | 14.30 | |
104 | British Virgin Islands | 14.43 | |
105 | West Bank | 14.47 | |
106 | Malaysia | 14.57 | |
107 | Georgia | 14.68 | |
108 | Montserrat | 14.69 | |
109 | Oman | 14.95 | |
110 | Syria | 15.12 | |
111 | Cook Islands | 15.30 | |
112 | Lebanon | 15.32 | |
113 | Saudi Arabia | 15.61 | |
114 | China | 15.62 | |
115 | Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha | 15.80 | |
116 | Jordan | 15.83 | |
117 | Thailand | 15.90 | |
118 | Colombia | 15.92 | |
119 | Bulgaria | 16.13 | |
120 | Gaza Strip | 16.55 | |
121 | Mexico | 16.77 | |
122 | Solomon Islands | 17.25 | |
123 | Vanuatu | 17.90 | |
124 | Armenia | 18.21 | |
125 | Philippines | 18.75 | |
126 | Ecuador | 19.06 | |
127 | El Salvador | 19.66 | |
128 | Honduras | 19.85 | |
129 | Venezuela | 20.18 | |
130 | Viet Nam | 20.24 | |
131 | Brazil | 20.50 | |
132 | Uzbekistan | 21.20 | |
133 | Dominican Republic | 21.30 | |
134 | Belize | 21.37 | |
135 | Peru | 21.50 | |
136 | Samoa | 21.85 | |
137 | Nicaragua | 21.86 | |
138 | Paraguay | 22.24 | |
139 | Marshall Islands | 22.93 | |
140 | Kazakhstan | 23.06 | |
141 | Turkey | 23.07 | |
142 | Algeria | 23.40 | |
143 | Micronesia, Federated States of | 23.51 | |
144 | Egypt | 24.23 | |
145 | Tunisia | 24.98 | |
146 | Guatemala | 25.16 | |
147 | Cape Verde | 26.02 | |
148 | Korea, North | 26.21 | |
149 | Maldives | 26.46 | |
150 | Morocco | 26.49 | |
151 | Trinidad and Tobago | 26.73 | |
152 | Indonesia | 27.00 | |
153 | Zimbabwe | 28.23 | |
154 | Azerbaijan | 28.76 | |
155 | Suriname | 28.94 | |
156 | Kyrgyzstan | 30.80 | |
157 | Tuvalu | 33.55 | |
158 | Guyana | 35.59 | |
159 | Mongolia | 36.00 | |
160 | Tajikistan | 37.33 | |
161 | Kiribati | 37.68 | |
162 | Iraq | 40.25 | Under American occupation |
163 | Eritrea | 40.34 | |
164 | Turkmenistan | 40.89 | |
165 | Ghana | 40.90 | |
166 | Bolivia | 40.94 | |
167 | Iran | 41.11 | |
168 | Timor-Leste | 41.40 | |
169 | Papua New Guinea | 42.05 | |
170 | Bhutan | 42.17 | |
171 | South Africa | 42.67 | |
172 | Nepal | 43.13 | |
173 | Kenya | 43.61 | |
174 | Namibia | 45.61 | |
175 | India | 46.07 | |
176 | Tanzania | 46.50 | |
177 | Madagascar | 47.40 | |
178 | Burma | 47.74 | |
179 | Bangladesh | 48.99 | |
180 | Gabon | 49.00 | |
181 | Togo | 49.87 | |
182 | Sao Tome and Principe | 51.83 | |
183 | Haiti | 52.44 | |
184 | Djibouti | 53.31 | |
185 | Lesotho | 53.44 | |
186 | Yemen | 53.50 | |
187 | Cambodia | 54.08 | |
188 | Senegal | 55.16 | |
189 | Sudan | 55.60 | |
190 | Laos | 57.77 | |
191 | Mauritania | 58.93 | |
192 | Western Sahara | 58.96 | |
193 | Guinea | 59.04 | |
194 | Swaziland | 59.57 | |
195 | Cameroon | 59.70 | |
196 | Benin | 60.03 | |
197 | Burundi | 60.32 | |
198 | Ethiopia | 60.90 | |
199 | Pakistan | 61.27 | |
200 | Rwanda | 62.51 | |
201 | Cote d'Ivoire | 63.20 | |
202 | Uganda | 64.20 | |
203 | Comoros | 68.97 | |
204 | Gambia, The | 69.58 | |
205 | Zambia | 70.60 | |
206 | South Sudan | 71.80 | |
207 | Liberia | 72.71 | |
208 | Congo, Republic of the | 74.22 | |
209 | Nigeria | 74.36 | |
210 | Equatorial Guinea | 75.18 | |
211 | Congo, Democratic Republic of the | 76.63 | |
212 | Sierra Leone | 76.64 | |
213 | Mozambique | 76.85 | |
214 | Malawi | 79.02 | |
215 | Burkina Faso | 79.84 | |
216 | Angola | 83.53 | |
217 | Niger | 89.70 | |
218 | Chad | 93.61 | |
219 | Guinea-Bissau | 94.40 | |
220 | Central African Republic | 97.17 | |
221 | Somalia | 103.72 | |
222 | Mali | 108.70 | |
223 | Afghanistan | 121.63 | Under American occupation. Worst in the world. |
Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.
~ Gore Vidal (1925-10-03 2012-07-30 age:86) on overpopulation.
recommend book⇒The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet’s Surprising Future | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
by | Fred Pearce | 978-0-8070-0122-6 | paperback | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
birth | 1951 age:66 | 978-0-8070-8583-7 | hardcover | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
publisher | Beacon | B003DZ1116 | kindle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
published | 2010-04-01 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The title is a bit of a misnomer. The author predicts population will top out at about 8 billion in 2040 and then gradually drop. The women of all the countries of the world are voluntarily having fewer babies so they can join the work force. Italy has already dropped its birth rate to 1.1, less than needed to sustain. The earth’s population is aging. This is a good thing since older people tend to be more willing to make the sacrifices needed for a green planet and, of course, they don’t have more babies. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder. |
recommend book⇒Our Plundered Planet | ||||
by | Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr. | 978-0-316-66608-4 | hardcover | |
---|---|---|---|---|
birth | 1887-01-15 1969-09-16 age:82 | |||
publisher | Little, Brown | |||
published | 1948-01 | |||
The most important thing about this book is that it was published in 1948, 14 years before Rachael Carson and Silent Spring. It focuses on over population, soil erosion, invasive species, massive water control projects and the rapacious practices of corporations. These problems were apparent even back then and we did almost nothing about them. There is also a paperback version of this book, but it does not have an ISBN. | ||||
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock. Try looking for it with a bookfinder. |
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