Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Homo Sapiens, like our ancestors before us, will all eventually die out some day.
But our offspring will be better suited to handle the world we leave them. (Perhaps the next stage of evolution will involve non-carbon based lifeforms i.e. intelligent computers).
Whatever the case, our star will eventually burn out and all carbon based life in our solar system will be extinguished.
So don't spend too much time worrying about the future, despite how your survival instincts may influence you.
Maybe it's time to consider some of the Native American prophecies, one in particular from the Cree goes like this. When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been haunted, when all the waters are polluted, and all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
There's another ancient Native American proverb. Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.
Modern technology has enabled us to live much longer than maybe we should and maybe that's not so good.
maybe it's time to consider some of the native american prophecies, one in particular from the cree goes like this. when all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been haunted, when all the waters are polluted, and all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
there's another ancient native american proverb. treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
modern technology has enabled us to live much longer than maybe we should and maybe that's not so good.
Location: planet octupulous is nearing earths atmosphere
13,621 posts, read 12,730,207 times
Reputation: 20050
[quote=Hueffenhardt;18291300]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hueffenhardt
/quote]
I should have added "for quite some time to come". I didn't mean to imply that it will continue forever.
As for the "peak amount of people this planet can sustain", my point is that the peak amount changes as technology advances. We could lower our metabolism so that we need fewer calories. We could get it so that we have an "almost" endless supply of drinking water as we improve the technology of turning ocean water into drinking water. We could mechanically turn our exhaled carbon dioxide into oxygen for us to breathe using the "almost" limitless energy from solar radiation. We just covered food, water, and oxygen. I think the planet is a very long way from the peak amount of people the planet can sustain as technology expands.
could you tell me where all the animals,wildlife., are going to go as we expand.?? we humans think that technology will solve all our problems, i think the other way round, i believe technology is speeding up the demise of our civilization. in 1960 there was about 3 billion people, now only 50 years later we are aproaching 7 billion, somethings got to give. in the movie 2001 space oddacy and 2010 they portray man as having huge space stations in deep space.. well we are in the year 2011 and not even close to what they portray in those two movies, and many others.. but we are approaching an unsustainable amount of people on a finite planet at the same date that those movies portrayed.. space program bugets will be seriously cut in the future do to staggering world economies. so i realy don't see us geting out into space unless we change our whole existance and solve the problems with overpopulation.. but,, hay!!! we can have faith in our god to help us out in time of need
could you tell me where all the animals,wildlife., are going to go as we expand.?? we humans think that technology will solve all our problems, i think the other way round, i believe technology is speeding up the demise of our civilization. in 1960 there was about 3 billion people, now only 50 years later we are aproaching 7 billion, somethings got to give. in the movie 2001 space oddacy and 2010 they portray man as having huge space stations in deep space.. well we are in the year 2011 and not even close to what they portray in those two movies, and many others.. but we are approaching an unsustainable amount of people on a finite planet at the same date that those movies portrayed.. space program bugets will be seriously cut in the future do to staggering world economies. so i realy don't see us geting out into space unless we change our whole existance and solve the problems with overpopulation.. but,, hay!!! we can have faith in our god to help us out in time of need
As you probably know, I don't have faith in god as I am an atheist. And again, I am only saying what I see as likely. I do believe that it would be best for all parties involved (the planet, other life and us) if those of us who do live, do better to live lightly upon the earth: not be wasteful, use resources wisely, be energy efficient and make good choices about where and how we spend our money. But, I don't think we are nearing the peak human population the planet can handle.
Well according to the Census Bureau, world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2040 and could peak anywhere from 11-15 billion by the early 2100s. But most of this growth is expected to be driven from the least and less developed nations (Africa, Asia, etc.).
However the industrialized nations of Europe are expecting a decline in population due to low birth rates. But the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are expected to grow in population due to higher birth rates and immigration levels. The US of A is expected to grow to 400 million by the late 2030s to the early 2040s and almost 600 million by 2100. China's population growth is starting to slow down due to the one child policy law and peak at 1.45 billion in the early 2030s, falling after that point falling to about 1.1 billion in 2100. India however is expected to nearly double their population to 1.8 billion by 2050 and over 2.0 billion by 2100.
Of course, these are only predictions. We could have a flu pandemic like that of 1918 that could wipe out a huge proportion of the world's population. Or we could suddenly have another baby boom like that after WWII during the 50s and which would further add growth to our world population.
The CIA is not accurate. Look at Australia and NZ's statistical data from their own websites. NZ's birth rate is 2.2 kids, while Australia is almost 2.0. On the other hand, countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Japan etc. have birth rates below 1.5 children.
i was reading that sometime next year that population of humans will reach 7 billion so when is enough,??? enough.!!! when will humans learn that there is only enough resources to sustain a fixed number of people on this planet.. remember everything has a limit, you can only get a fixed amount of sardines in one can..
whats your take.?? does it say in your bible that there is a limit,?? or does it just say keep breeding.??
Italy. Hmmmmmm. Wasn't that the country where Italians used to live?
Your industrial nations that produce non-subsistance civilizations are not breaking even population wise. In fact they are on the decline. You need to shake your over population shame stick in the direction of 'developing countries and the bean farmers they produce.'
Here is your slogan. "Children. Not cheaper by the dozen. Sham shame on you." Pretend they're Republicans.
Whatever the case, our star will eventually burn out and all carbon based life in our solar system will be extinguished.
So don't spend too much time worrying about the future, despite how your survival instincts may influence you.
You're correct, of course, that we will all eventually die, but I would like to leave my descendants with a world worth living in. A little planning for the future isn't a bad thing.
Keep in mind that this is a large planet. I heard a statistic that you could fit every human who's ever lived on the Isle of Man (appropriately enough), which is only about 221 sq. miles. Granted we'd all be packed together literally shoulder to shoulder which would make going to the bathroom embarrassing and inconvenient to say the least, but you could still do it. So can the Earth hold 7+ billion people? Yes, absolutely, and many times more than that.
Where we run into problems is when we start to consider quality of life. Currently something like 15% of the population controls and consumes over 85% of the wealth and resources. That's not sustainable. The resources that would be required for the current world population to live at the level of the typical American would require the Earth to be something like 6 times larger (don't quote me on that as I can't remember the actual statistic at the moment, but it's something like that). The more people you add to that mix, the bigger the problem gets.
Given how well people respond when told they ought to lower their standards of living and resource consumption, I don't see this problem being resolved any time in the near future, unless a plague or the Yellowstone supervolcano arbitrarily solves it for us.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
in the movie 2001 space oddacy and 2010 they portray man as having huge space stations in deep space.. well we are in the year 2011 and not even close to what they portray in those two movies, and many others.. but we are approaching an unsustainable amount of people on a finite planet at the same date that those movies portrayed.. space program bugets will be seriously cut in the future do to staggering world economies. so i realy don't see us geting out into space unless we change our whole existance and solve the problems with overpopulation.. but,, hay!!! we can have faith in our god to help us out in time of need
