Planet could be 'unrecognizable' by 2050, experts say

[surlygrrrly]

A growing, more affluent population competing for ever scarcer resources could make for an "unrecognizable" world by 2050, researchers warned at a major US science conference Sunday.The United Nations has predicted the global population will reach seven billion this year, and climb to nine billion by 2050, "with almost all of the growth occurring

Comments

[gregrichey]

I find it interesting and sad that the only solution proposed to solve the population explosion is family planning. It has been shown that as societies develop, birth rates decrease. High birth rates occur in third world countries out of a concern that most of the offspring will die, and that the parents need to produce enough babies that some of them will live long enough to provide needed labor around the home. Once society has developed enough that these fears are no longer justified, birth rates decrease. Give societies the resources they need to develop, and remove the fears of starvation, and birth rates will naturally decline. It's a relatively shorter-term, albeit expensive investment that would minimize greater costs in the long run, given the tragedies predicted above. Family planning only helps for those interested or willing to get personal help. Addressing the underlying structural motivations gets closer to solving the problem.

[surlygrrrly]

Well yes, focusing on population control assuages the guilt of Americans. After all, it is the poor brown people who have all the babies and they do so because they are irresponsible. You should see all the comments (without a doubt written by privileged and entitled White Americans) to this end posted in response to this article on Yahoo!

What I think would be an even better solution to the problem is to drastically cut the consumption of the wealthy countries, starting with the USA. The article, as brief as it is, even alludes to the fact that wealth and meat consumption are correlated and that meat is inefficient and wasteful. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Americans consume everything else with gusto as well-- oil, trees, air, water, dirt, space, etc.

[gregrichey]

Good point, consumption by wealthy countries, particularly the US, is out of control. It's rather disingenuous, and selfish, to point the finger at poorer countries, who use way fewer resources than we do, rather than address our own gluttonous waste of resources. How to police ourselves though, is another matter.