Friday, August 21, 2015

World Population Figures Exceed Previous Predictions


According to recent studies sponsored by the United Nations (UN), the number of people living on earth will pass 11 billion by the end of this century. Our current worldwide count is 7.5 billion.

Demography studies, the science of human population, gave estimates in the mid-1980s predicting a slowdown in both birth rates and world populations by now. The lower birth rate estimates became true, but populations in countries throughout the world continue to increase, contrary to the predictions. 

People are living much longer than the demographic scientists concluded just 30 years ago. Life expectancies continue to increase, and that accounts for the larger numbers of people living on earth.

The UN studies show that China continues to have the largest percentage of people with 19.24% of the total planet population. By the end of August 2015, the population in China will reach 1.5 billion. At the end of August, the population of India will be in second place with 1.3 billion people, 17.50% of the world’s population.

United States occupants total the third largest population with 350 million estimated by the end of August. In fourth place is Indonesia with 257 million, and Brazil is in fifth place at an estimated 204 million by the end of this month.

Population density in major cities throughout the world causes increased demands for water, food and basic sanitation. This strains the world’s resources for humans as well as all species on the planet. Increased recycling is the single most important action by nations that will continue to conserve our resources and ease the strain from the increasing waste generated by populations.

Expanding landfills that hold and process human-generated waste continue to increase in size. The World Bank released figures on waste disposal that indicated that 2.4 billion tons of solid waste would go into our world’s landfills by 2025. That’s only ten years away.

The long-term effects of population growth will influence the quality of life for generations that exceed us. Most adults alive today will be dead by the year 2100. Plans need to begin now to cope with the number of people who will need the basics of food, clothing and shelter as the population increases.

Some solutions underway now include developing low-water farming for crops that can grow in desert areas. The planet has millions of square miles of deserts that could be used to farm food. Tapping into the oceans to both supply us with water and places to farm is in the realm of reality.

Outrageous solutions include colonizing other planets. NASA has plans to explore Mars within our lifetimes. Life support is a deal breaker in putting humans in outer space colonies. Do scientists really believe the pioneer spirit of discovering new territories can include placing cities under huge domes so people can have air to breathe? That’s unlikely and would never include enough people to reduce the earth’s population.

Technologies will improve when incentives to profit from such changes come along. Scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs all want to get paid for their work. When making a dollar is the incentive, people developing solutions will solve the problems. Meantime, the simple mantra from the protectors of our planet is the truth—reduce, reuse, recycle. 

Thank you for reading this blog. Come back to this space later this month and read about another topic. You can also visit my website at www.joevlatino.com.   

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