If the present human birthrate continues, by A. D. 2600 there will be
only 0.84 square meters ( 1 square yard ) of dry land surface available for
each inhabitant-hardly more than the size of a telephone booth.
Today, at
the rate of 163 births per minute, a baby is born somewhere in the
world every 1 / 3 second, and the world's population is growing at the net
rate of 235,000 people per day ( birthrate minus death rate ). It has
doubled since 1952 and is increasing at 1.7 percent per year. (See
"Exponential Growth," p. 112.)
Leyden note:
So the world population doubled in 40 years -- the usa population has doubled in my lifetime --- 132 million in 1940 when i as born --- to about 264 million in 1992. If you click into the POPULATION CLOCK link -- it probably won't show 264 million --- because the 1990 census didn't accurately count homeless -- and illegal immigrants. Some sources estimate 1,000 "illegals" per day come to the usa -- that is 10% of the births !
The world population, which stood at 1.5 billion in 1900, was 5.2
billion in mid-1989 and is expected to grow to 6.2 billion in the year 2000
and to 8.5 billion in 2025. It may reach 10 billion before it levels off
toward the end of the next century, with nearly 9 out of 10 persons living
in developing countries ( U.N. median projections ).
Leyden note:
Remember that a million seconds occurs every 11 days --- and a billion seconds occurs every 32 years. These words are not synonyms. We add a billion people to the planet about every 11 years.
No government or academic expert has the faintest idea how to
provide adequate food, housing, health care, education, and gainful
employment to such exploding numbers of people as they crowd into such
mega-cities as Mexico City, Calcutta, and Cairo with their inadequate
housing, lack of health facilities, and overcrowded schools.
Moreover, the growing numbers of desperate poor implied in these
figures will accelerate the ferocious assault on the environment already
under way in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as they overgraze
grasslands, cut and burn forests, and over-plow croplands in a desperate
effort to produce more food.
Should the size or growth rate of the world's human population be
curtailed to protect the global environment ? If so, how ? If not, what ?
Has society the right to tell individuals ( including you ) how many
children they can have ?
If your answer is "no," may population control be
achieved by an appeal to conscience ?
What form of coercion or appeal
would you respond to ?
(See "Tragedy of the Commons," p. 110 and "Exponential Growth," p. 112.)
Think about this...
Any chemist who perfects a blackfly and
mosquito repellent could single-handedly alter the lifestyle and
economy of large parts of rural Maine.
For years the biting insects
have protected some of the most beautiful and under-populated areas
of the state from floods of vacationers and home builders. A single
effective use of chemistry could suddenly make it possible for many
people to move in. Is this a change to be welcomed ?