World Population Expected To Reach 9.7 Billion By 2050

[FM 3370]

9.7 Billion, I fail to see how this is a big deal. Earth can support so many more people.

 

[ep0x73]

If you think people are starving in Africa now then just wait.
We need birth control at so many levels.

Cutting down more trees for land to grow food is the result, less air for us to breathe certainly.
The oceans right now are being tapped at a quick pace with many species endangered.

I did see this article in pop-sci about these huge towers that were growing columns for the future when land is scarce.

If you can't go out you go up and use hydroponics in a controlled environment.

 

[Starcrossed]

No humans originated in North America.

The point was that the Europeans are newer than the original human inhabitants on this land.

 

[Starcrossed]

9.7 Billion, I fail to see how this is a big deal. Earth can support so many more people.

Is that your scientific conclusion?

 

[msny]

Thaaaaaaaaaaat's.... assuming there won't be any meteor.

...or nuclear war, or global warming, or pole reversals, or solar flares....
Just putting it out there, not advocating the above.

 

[msny]

I think this is why we're letting Iran get the bomb.

Not really, were giving it to them, just delaying it by a couple of years.
But ya they want to trim the population down into one religion.

 

[dangerouseddy]

I'm expecting captain trips to make the tour sooner or later

 

[Yakk]

Reading this, the quote from Dan Brown came to mind ...

"Ozone depletion, lack of water, and pollution are not the disease—they are the symptoms. The disease is overpopulation. And unless we face world population head-on, we are doing nothing more than sticking a Band-Aid on a fast-growing cancerous tumor."

 

[Machupo]

I should also note, that I am for mandatory euthanasia, say at about the age of 68 and I believe in maximum of 1 child per couple to stem over-population. I also love sterilization of the stupid, dumb and obese, so let's start setting the standards and culling the "herd" before it's too late!!!

Seems like I've heard that before.

 

[Comixbooks]

Well if everyone is a computer addict in 2050 problem solved =)

 

[sfsuphysics]

I can kinda get your point but I think its way more complex than that.

It is more complex than that to be certain, but the future will be rife with hard choices. As it stands today how much food does the US grow for other countries due to ... overpopulation? I'm not just talking the big 2 of China/India, I'm talking smaller nations, but because food doesn't fucking grow there, we've taking it upon ourselves to do the humane thing and not let them starve to death (as much), now expand that outward and how much food can we produce for the rest of the world keeping in mind that takes away from the US not just food but other resources like water, California is a big issue now with this, even though a lot of it is cash crop exports the idea is the same. Will you want to change your lifestyle of the wide range of food you can eat just because people make more babies than food in other countries? Then extrapolate even further where the US does put a hardline "fuck that shit" stance and we slow down food exports, then you have imports ... of people moving to where the food is. I mean you think people complaining about immigration now is bad, it's going to get much MUCH worse.

China had a small handle on it with their 1 child policy, but strike one up for the Chinese culture to fuck that up since you had every set of parents wanting a boy because your son is who takes care of you when you're old. Yeah some tough tough choices are going to have to be made, and if these countries won't keep reproducing, then maybe it's time their lifeline cuts them off.
.

 

[HardUp4HardWare]

Imagine if diseases like cancer and heart disease or diabetes were cured.

No conspiracy here, move along...

 

[evilsofa]

Not really, were giving it to them, just delaying it by a couple of years.
But ya they want to trim the population down into one religion.

Quite a few American politicians seem to want to do the same thing.

 

[dvsman]

An aside on feeding Africa (just to enlighten those that don't work in U.S. trade policy and might be wondering where some of your tax dollars go each year).

This is a multi-pronged issue to be sure.

1) The production of food here in the USA, especially crops (not so much fruit / vegetables though) are supported by U.S. legislation (Google "Farm Bill" if you are really interested),

2) The later exports of those same crops to foreign countries, including Africa, are further supported by entities & mechanisms like loan programs from the US Ag. Dept. and the Ex-Im bank (which supports the sale of US goods to foreign countries).

3) Money from "aid / relief organizations" like the State Dept.'s US AID often have government procurement requirements tied to the aid money, i.e. You want to take our money you also have to buy only from US companies with that aid money.

An example - it is cheaper (with all of the subsidies and incentives) for an African country to buy imported food / rice / corn from the USA than it is for an African farmer to try to grow it locally (paying out of pocket) and sell it themselves.

In this regard, the subsidized US growers (using your tax money via things like counter-cyclical payments, conservation payments, the commodity credit corporation) are putting the local African growers out of business and ... keeping them out of business / always on the teat.

TLR - the US government uses your tax money to pay US farmers to grow crops cheaply, then gives more money in aid subsidies & loans to foreign trading partners (incl. Africa) to buy that very same merch, keeping these countries from developing the infrastructure to grow / produce crops for themselves and stuck on the foreign / US aid.

 

[ep0x73]

Well said and just more proof gov't need to shrink and get rid of waste.
Subsidies should be allowed, you either swim or sink.

The farm bill is notorious for having so much pork added to it so it passes.

 

[jedijeb]

An aside on feeding Africa (just to enlighten those that don't work in U.S. trade policy and might be wondering where some of your tax dollars go each year).

This is a multi-pronged issue to be sure.

1) The production of food here in the USA, especially crops (not so much fruit / vegetables though) are supported by U.S. legislation (Google "Farm Bill" if you are really interested),

2) The later exports of those same crops to foreign countries, including Africa, are further supported by entities & mechanisms like loan programs from the US Ag. Dept. and the Ex-Im bank (which supports the sale of US goods to foreign countries).

3) Money from "aid / relief organizations" like the State Dept.'s US AID often have government procurement requirements tied to the aid money, i.e. You want to take our money you also have to buy only from US companies with that aid money.

An example - it is cheaper (with all of the subsidies and incentives) for an African country to buy imported food / rice / corn from the USA than it is for an African farmer to try to grow it locally (paying out of pocket) and sell it themselves.

In this regard, the subsidized US growers (using your tax money via things like counter-cyclical payments, conservation payments, the commodity credit corporation) are putting the local African growers out of business and ... keeping them out of business / always on the teat.

TLR - the US government uses your tax money to pay US farmers to grow crops cheaply, then gives more money in aid subsidies & loans to foreign trading partners (incl. Africa) to buy that very same merch, keeping these countries from developing the infrastructure to grow / produce crops for themselves and stuck on the foreign / US aid.

I really sad story to go along with that was that before the 80s Ethiopia had very productive farms and fertile land. Then the government there decided they wanted to control everything including farmers and began to tell them how to grow crops and what crops to grow. They forbade farmers from rotating land between grazing animals and growing crops, which provides fertilizer for crops when the animals graze, and compaction of the soil by the animals to reduce erosion when crops are grown, so after the government had their way erosion began, soil became poor and with a moderate drought they more or less had the equivalent of our Dust Bowl and now they can't grow much there. Just one example of how a centralized government doesn't really know how things work on a regional basis and that local farmers probably know there profession better than some university educated bureaucrat.

 

[4saken]

Thanks Obama

 

[topslop1]

If only we could beam immigrants back to their country of origin, so that the countries with over population issues related to birth rates will be forced to deal with it themselves.

I would buy you a beer.