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World Population Expected To Hit 7 Billion In Late October

Posted by timothy on from the where-do-you-get-a-nice-malthus-mask? dept.

kkleiner writes "A new report documents the prodigious rate at which the world's population is growing. It was just 1999 when we reached 6 billion. And now within the next month or two we will have surpassed 7 billion. What does the continued increase in world population mean for humanity and for the the planet?"

3 of 522 comments (clear)

  1. In related news by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

    Around 40% of the corn produced in the US goes to ethanol.

    It's obviously not a question of whether we can support 7 billion people, since we basically are, but whether we can support the increasing growth rate. If you look at this graph, you can see the population is projected to level off around 10billion or so. And if you look even closer, you can see it's really a question for India (and to a lesser degree, Africa): can India handle its massive population growth? If so, then the world can handle it, too. If not, then they are going to suffer a lot.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:In related news by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's obviously not a question of whether we can support 7 billion people, since we basically are, but whether we can support the increasing growth rate.

      Increasing growth rate?

      Growth rate over this last billion was 1.3% per year.

      Growth rate over the immediately previous billion was 1.5% per year.

      When we went from three billion to four billion, population growth rate was 2.1% per year.

      Looks like a steadily declining growth rate to me....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  2. Re:7 Billion Zombies by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Informative

    7 BILLION PEOPLE. That's an insane amount of people putting an extreme burden on our delicate ecosystem. Earth is already at the brink of death, it's been estimated that when we hit 10 billion, there's no turning back.

    While Dr. Bob is clearly a troll, it's amazing to me the number of non-trolls that accept this part as absolutely true without need for proof. High population isn't killing the environment, inefficient consumption of resources is killing the environment. Per capita, US citizens use far more energy, and put out far more CO2 than the average for the world. We have 4.5% of the world's population, but contribute 18.5% of the CO2 emissions.

    The only way more people = environmental destruction is if we refuse to tighten our belts and the rest of the world decides they want to live as wastefully as we do. We need to stop feeling entitled to use and abuse resources however we feel like at the moment simply because previous generations could get away with it.