As the world's population hits 7 million ...

[onejayhawk]

soilent green.

Covered that.

Make Room! Make Room!

J

I have always taken exception to those that cry wolf, because there is a real chance that a genuine calamity will go unresponded. The world is not short on food, arible land or transportation. We would be able to support double our population with ease, if we lived in a logical world.

Food problems are predominantly political/financial. We cannot get food to those who are hungry without paying graft to the powers that be. Often, we cannot get tools to raise or prepare food where they need to go.

J

[TranaGreg]

Covered that.



I have always taken exception to those that cry wolf, because there is a real chance that a genuine calamity will go unresponded. The world is not short on food, arible land or transportation. We would be able to support double our population with ease, if we lived in a logical world.

Food problems are predominantly political/financial. We cannot get food to those who are hungry without paying graft to the powers that be. Often, we cannot get tools to raise or prepare food where they need to go.

J

this must be one of those convoluted analogies you're famous for that I can't understand, cause I agree with all of this. except for maybe the "with ease" line ... implementing the logical solutions wouldn't be easy ... heck, they're pretty much impossible given our current situation.

[onejayhawk]

this must be one of those convoluted analogies you're famous for that I can't understand, cause I agree with all of this. except for maybe the "with ease" line ... implementing the logical solutions wouldn't be easy ... heck, they're pretty much impossible given our current situation.

If we had double the population, and the associated increased labor force and infrastructure, producing the food would be as simple as it is now. We are not in a limited situation.

J

[TranaGreg]

... and infrastructure ...

there's the rub. can be done, yes, but not easy.

[Fresno Bob]

in the future, our generations are going to be mocked for using petrocarbons for transport instead of for fertilizer........

[onejayhawk]

there's the rub. can be done, yes, but not easy.

You have generations to work on it. Infrastructure and population grow side by side. Ther are some kinks, true, but the flow is very parallel.

J

[onejayhawk]

in the future, our generations are going to be mocked for using petrocarbons for transport instead of for fertilizer........

Why?

Petrocarbons make lousy fertilizers. Very short term thinking.

J

[GwynnInTheHall]

yes, it adds new meaning to the already legendary "I like peeples" ...

Nia was hot

[heyelander]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/11/03/141946751/along-with-humans-who-else-is-in-the-7-billion-club

The revelation this week that the Earth now holds 7 billion people, according to the U.N.'s population division, prompted a question: Who else is in the 7 Billion Club? To find out which other animals had reached that plateau, we asked wildlife experts — and they patiently explained why our innocent question was nearly impossible to answer.

But then the experts gave us some best guesses. And the consensus was that humans are the largest animals on the planet to have a population numbering at least 7 billion — but they're certainly not the only ones to reach that mark.