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Or realistically, if we let the urban areas densify and strictly zone the other areas to control growth, we can support a lot more people without water-wasting baggage like lawns and washing cars. New construction can use exclusively water saving plumbing. Updated building code will require the collection of grey water for recycling into uses that do not require potable water.
Time to open up downtown SF and LA to the wrecking ball. Knock down outdated quake-vulnerable buildings for replacement with lots of 50+ story non-luxury residential units, sparing a handful of the most historic buildings.
If there's enough demand for it, desalinization becomes possible because the price of water will increase to a point that will support the technology.
Or we can stop this insanity known as population growth. Where is there any modern mandate that says we have to accommodate ever more people? What possible advantage is there to life by having more than seven billion people on this planet? What increases our QOL with any more than 2 or 3 billion? Or half that even? What kind of insanity blocks common sense and logic from revealing that perpetual growth is not possible - let alone healthy - in a finite system of finite resources?!
Stop expanding! Fur cryin out loud. No. We don't have to cram more people in. We have to have fewer people.
Or we can stop this insanity known as population growth. Where is there any modern mandate that says we have to accommodate ever more people? What possible advantage is there to life by having more than seven billion people on this planet? What increases our QOL with any more than 2 or 3 billion? Or half that even? What kind of insanity blocks common sense and logic from revealing that perpetual growth is not possible - let alone healthy - in a finite system of finite resources?!
Stop expanding! Fur cryin out loud. No. We don't have to cram more people in. We have to have fewer people.
True, there is no mandate to accommodate more people. On the other hand, population growth is a pretty natural function for a desirable place.
But I think given the realities, it's just logical to size up the situation and figure out ways to make it profitable or otherwise reduce the damage. Consider these conditions:
1. Population growth through a combination of birth and immigration is inevitable
2. California's economy is still growing, increasing the need for certain types of labor plus supporting labor
3. A healthy population has the potential to translate into a healthier economy and tax revenue by increasing the velocity of money
Assuming the above is true, managing the inevitable population growth is probably the best approach, otherwise we risk exacerbating problems down the road.
Using economics to keep people out might sort of work but has its own drawbacks, primarily putting the California economy into the dangerous position of losing its diversity. Depending strictly on tech is putting too many eggs in one basket. Lots of other variables to consider too.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm tired of sitting through ever increasing traffic too.
Someone once said that God created dogs to teach us how to be human.
Some of the most irritating, selfish, boorish people I've ever seen are dog owners. Not everyone wants to listen to your mutt bark 24/7 and no, my front yard isn't the neighborhood dog toilet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tulemutt
Or we can stop this insanity known as population growth. Where is there any modern mandate that says we have to accommodate ever more people? What possible advantage is there to life by having more than seven billion people on this planet? What increases our QOL with any more than 2 or 3 billion? Or half that even? What kind of insanity blocks common sense and logic from revealing that perpetual growth is not possible - let alone healthy - in a finite system of finite resources?!
Stop expanding! Fur cryin out loud. No. We don't have to cram more people in. We have to have fewer people.
I was a teen in the mid to late 1970s. California was a much nicer place back then. 20 million vs. 40 million? No contest. Most Americans figured out about then how to stop reproducing beyond beyond a couple of kids. We would have had zero population growth and population stability in the US years ago if the government in its infinite wisdom hadn't thought it was a brilliant idea to import tens of millions of people every decade since the 1960s. We've got about a 100-125 million extra bodies to house, feed and employ as a direct result of it. Propping up Social Security with this human Ponzi scheme wasn't worth it. The sad part is that its doing nothing but growing. In the 60s we average 350,000 legal immigrants a year. 70s - 425,000. 80s - 625,000. 90s - 975,000. 2000+ - over a million (and growing). Its sheer insanity.
I was a teen in the mid to late 1970s. California was a much nicer place back then. 20 million vs. 40 million? No contest. Most Americans figured out about then how to stop reproducing beyond beyond a couple of kids. We would have had zero population growth and population stability in the US years ago if the government in its infinite wisdom hadn't thought it was a brilliant idea to import tens of millions of people every decade since the 1960s. We've got about a 100-125 million extra bodies to house, feed and employ as a direct result of it. Propping up Social Security with this human Ponzi scheme wasn't worth it. The sad part is that its doing nothing but growing. In the 60s we average 350,000 legal immigrants a year. 70s - 425,000. 80s - 625,000. 90s - 975,000. 2000+ - over a million (and growing). Its sheer insanity.
Your math is a little off. More population growth in the United States comes from births than from immigration. This has been true since the 19th century. Experts expect this to remain true for another ~30 years.
Your numbers, too, are off. Immigration brings ~750,000 people per year to the US (down from highs of ~900,000 in the 2005-2006 timeframe.
More importantly, human population tends to grow. That has remained true for nearly all of human civilization. You can't cover your ears and pretend it won't happen. You have to figure out how to accommodate it. The worst way to cope is to refuse to build and increase density, a la coastal California, and let housing prices skyrocket as a result. California would be a much nicer place today without several decades of anti-growth policies at the state, and especially local, levels.
Your math is a little off. More population growth in the United States comes from births than from immigration. This has been true since the 19th century. Experts expect this to remain true for another ~30 years.
Your numbers, too, are off. Immigration brings ~750,000 people per year to the US (down from highs of ~900,000 in the 2005-2006 timeframe.
More importantly, human population tends to grow. That has remained true for nearly all of human civilization. You can't cover your ears and pretend it won't happen. You have to figure out how to accommodate it. The worst way to cope is to refuse to build and increase density, a la coastal California, and let housing prices skyrocket as a result. California would be a much nicer place today without several decades of anti-growth policies at the state, and especially local, levels.
Every advanced nation besides the US has fallen below replacement by a substantial margin. The US has or soon will have fallen below replacement. The trend in the rest of the world is also decreasing birth rate, and a number of 2nd world countries are now below replacement. The 3rd world, surprisingly, is also trending in that direction. Utmost surprising are a subset of such countries that are majority Muslim, the UN and all other pessimists were not expecting that. Given current trends, the only area experiencing natural population growth later this century will be certain desolate parts of Africa (where it is easy to hit a high growth rate, starting at such a low baseline of absolute population). By the end of this century, unless something drastically changes, the world will be in a steep decline in overall population.
This is the latest 2060 California population projections released in December 2014. It looks like every race/ethnicity increases except Caucasians. The one group that increases the most is the multiracial category as it rises by 168%. What the heck does multi race not Hispanic or Latino category mean? I'm white and my fiance is Hispanic and when we have children what category will our children be in. Does this mean that if a Hispanic has children with a white, black or Asian person the children are automatically Hispanics? I wonder how accurate these projections really are? Interesting none the less.
For what it's worth, Mexcian-Americans in California and the Southwest are amalgamating rapidly into mainstream "White" culture, just like the Italians and Irish (who were, at one time, not considered "white") did before them. By 2060, many Mexican Americans and their descendents will be checking the "White" category on census forms. I already know quite a few that do, actually.
A lot of Jewish, Perisans, Arabs, Armenians and Russians in California and they all tick the "Caucasian" category on the U.S. Census.
Not every ethnicity increases in California by 2060, either. As a matter of fact, the black population will dip down to about 3% by that time.
For what it's worth, Mexcian-Americans in California and the Southwest are amalgamating rapidly into mainstream "White" culture, just like the Italians and Irish (who were, at one time, not considered "white") did before them. By 2060, many Mexican Americans and their descendents will be checking the "White" category on census forms. I already know quite a few that do, actually.
A lot of Jewish, Perisans, Arabs, Armenians and Russians in California and they all tick the "Caucasian" category on the U.S. Census.
Not every ethnicity increases in California by 2060, either. As a matter of fact, the black population will dip down to about 3% by that time.
I agree that Mexican Americans are assimilating quickly and even my Hispanic fiance has a hard time speaking Spanish. She is as American as I am. I wonder if in the future we as a country stop classifying races but I doubt it because the government is going to add another category for the 2020 census. They are thinking about adding a middle eastern category because that group does not identify as white.
Every advanced nation besides the US has fallen below replacement by a substantial margin. The US has or soon will have fallen below replacement. The trend in the rest of the world is also decreasing birth rate, and a number of 2nd world countries are now below replacement. The 3rd world, surprisingly, is also trending in that direction. Utmost surprising are a subset of such countries that are majority Muslim, the UN and all other pessimists were not expecting that. Given current trends, the only area experiencing natural population growth later this century will be certain desolate parts of Africa (where it is easy to hit a high growth rate, starting at such a low baseline of absolute population). By the end of this century, unless something drastically changes, the world will be in a steep decline in overall population.
Nearly every population projection disagrees with you. There used to be a consensus that world population would top out around 9 billion and then decline. Updates have modified that notion, and growth is expected to continue throughout the century (to ~9-13 billion, depending on the estimate you use).
The regions of Africa that are projected to experience the majority of the growth are not desolate. Current projections envision Africa below the Sahara with a population density by 2100 equivalent to China today. India is also projected to see a big population boom.
Greetings from Buenos Aires. I guess my girlfriend and I will be part of the Hispanic population growth in California as we plan to move there in the next couple of years once we finish college. We visited California in December and fell in love with it. The population projection based on racial groups is interesting because we noticed so many interracial pairings during our 2 weeks there. We met someone that told me whites think that mixing with non whites will make prettier people like Brazil. My girlfriend and I laughed because we have been to Brazil many times and trust me the pretty Brazilian models are European and the black and mulatto people are not looked at as beautiful. Americans are strange but I think USA commercials advertise black men a lot to make them desirable. There is an agenda going on but American whites have a lot of white guilt and fear getting called racist. As white Argentinians we are proud of not being mixed. Just my 2 cents.
I am mixed Filipino and Mexican American. I have cousins on the Mexican side that have red hair and greenish-blue eyes. I look like a Mestiza and I'm OK with that.
My cousins back in the Philippines recently were talking with me about the same thing you mentioned re: TV commercials featuring black people. They get U.S. Satellite TV in the Philippines and my uncles, aunts and cousins asked why every commercial had black people as the main characters? They said it makes the U.S. look like its half-black, at least, and you hardly ever see Asians or Latins, or even American blondes, in commercials anymore. I had noticed this too, recently, but never said anything about it.
The funniest commercial I ever saw was for a home security program where they featured a black family sitting down to eat dinner in what looked like a big tract home in the suburbs, and then it showed a masked white male trying to break in and commit a home-invasion. If it wasn't so stupidly antithetical to real life, it would have been funny.
I don't know why white people in this country put up with things like that? I'd be pissed if they put a Latino or Asian as the burglar. White people have nothing to feel "guilty" for, as far as I'm concerned. They created one of the best countries on earth and are entitled to have some pride.
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