In 1999, the world population crossed the six billion mark@@http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3072068/ns/us_news-only_on_msnbc_com/t/world-population-hits-billion/@@. Twelve years later, we’ve added another billion. This is a truly staggering figure considering it took 127 years for the population to increase from one to two billion@@http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/numb-nf.html@@. By 2043, it is projected that nine billion people will be scurrying about the Earth’s surface.@@http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/776.1@@
I thought it prudent to start with statistics because it shows just how out-of-control the rate of population increase is. This is nothing new, but something people rarely think on while going about their daily lives. China and India, the world’s two most populous countries (about 1.3 and 1.2 billion people respectively, according to the World Bank), have a much better grasp on the population problem because their resources are incredibly strained, and yet there has been little progress in managing the issue.
There are a few important things to think about: How will resources be distributed as the population continues to climb, especially in the developing world such as in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and will enough resources be available to support that many people? Is population really the problem, or is it consumption that needs to be addressed?
To us at the University, it may seem a distant problem. Americans, on the whole, don’t have to worry about scarce resources like food and fresh water because our population density is comparatively low, as is our growth rate. In the aforementioned third world, however, allocation of these resources is a matter of life and death and the fact that the areas that are growing the fastest have the least infrastructure to combat these problems is a major issue.
Distribution and consumption, I fear, will be one of the largest hurdles in this developing crisis. The U.S. and China are by far the largest consumers of all natural resources, but the disparity between the consumption and population as a percentage of the whole is inherently unsustainable.
A worldwide shift in consumption is needed if the finite resources we have are going to sustain a population that is expected to reach 10 billion at the end of the 21st century@@http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/7371105.html@@. This means less for Americans but, in the end, the world will theoretically be on a more even keel.
This goes back to the concept of lowering our ecological footprint. As students, we can all use less electricity, gas and other resources and still get on with life. Small change is better than no change, even if that means just turning off the lights when you leave a room or switching to those annoying compact fluorescent bulbs — and God, aren’t they annoying.
It may seem obvious, because, well, it is. Use birth control. There is simply no reason to have three or more kids anymore. Yeah, 150 years ago when our economy was still based on agrarianism it made sense to have more kids that could work the farm and seeing how infant mortality was a lot higher, you could improve your chances.@@oh, snap.@@ Today, however, it makes absolutely no sense. This concept will no doubt be lost on the people who need its lesson most, because they probably won’t read this publication. But just in case, do us all a favor.@@BAM!!@@
All of this is not to say that we in the U.S. are exempt from the population explosion. In the last decade, we have experienced our own microcosm of the problem on campus. The University has grown by 25 percent in the last 10 years, and even in my short three-ish years on campus, I’ve noticed (as I’m sure many of you have) more and more congestion. Now consider a hypothetical situation where the University was static and the student population grew at that same rate for another decade. This is what we are dealing with on the global scale.
What I’m saying, if I’m saying anything at all, is to be mindful. Mindful of how humbling it is to be one of seven billion, how we as a race are affecting our planet and how it is ultimately up to us to decide whether we deal with the problem of long-term sustainability, population and resource allocation or avoid it at a higher cost.