IPFS
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Frosty Wooldridge
More About: EnvironmentWHAT DOES AN OVERPOPULATED AMERICA AND PLANET LOOK LIKE IN 40 YEARS?
While you read about every kind of disaster from Haiti to India,
from Mexico to Sudan—few understand the ramifications of continued human
overpopulation growth. Mostly, they
avoid it! However, as human overload
grows more serious within the United States, more and more people consider its
accelerating consequences as a systematic global predicament.
Population expert Jason
Brent, “The Future of Mankind—A Few Simple Rules” states the obvious in his
latest essay on humanity’s future.
What does an overpopulated world look like Mr. Brent?
“Since the earth is finite
in size, both economic and population growth must cease,” said Brent. “No power on earth or in the heavens will
permit infinite growth on the finite earth. Nothing humanity can do or say will
permit infinite growth on the finite earth. New technology, recycling,
environmentalism, and even a possible second or third green revolution will
not permit either the economy or the human population to continue to grow.
Any person who advocates economic growth or economic stimulation may be causing
the short term destruction of humanity as no person knows the level of
economic activity which will cause that to happen. In addition, no person knows
the level of economic activity which will permit the long term survival of our
species.
“For the last several hundreds of years, and probably, at least,
since the start of agriculture and civilization every aspect of society has
been designed for "more" and designed for "growth". Since
growth will cease and "more" cannot continue, every aspect of society
must be reevaluated and reconsidered. There is a strong probability that every
aspect of society will have to be drastically modified to conform to the new
paradigm. Every aspect of society includes, but is not limited to, religion,
government, charity, justice, morality, life, and death.
“Both the economy of the world and the human population grow in a
compound/geometric/exponential manner and not in an arithmetic
manner. Compound/geometric/exponential growth is the most powerful force
in the universe, it overwhelms everything. Nothing can withstand the power of that
type of growth. At a compound growth rate of one-half of one percent
(0.005) per year something will double about every 140 years; at one
percent(0.01) it will double about every 70 years; at two percent (0.02) it
will double about every 35 years; and at three percent (0.03) it will
double in slightly less than 24 years--for the purpose of simplicity I will use
24 years.”
Number of years at the percentages set forth above
0.005 0.01
0.02 0.03
Two times as
large 140
70
35 24
Four times as
large
280 140
70 48
Eight times as
large 420 210
105 72
Sixteen times as
large
560
280 140
96
Thirty-two times as
large 700
350 175
120
One thousand times as
large
1,400 700
350 240
One million times
as large 2,800 1,400 700 480
One billion times as
large
4,200 2,100
1,050 720
“While the following statement cannot be proven with absolute
certainty, it is as close to an absolute certainty as any statement ever made
by any human being---humanity will destroy itself before the economy or the
human population grew by a factor of 32 and that would take between 120 and 700
years depending on the annual growth rate,” said Brent. “A very strong argument
can be made that the resources of the earth cannot and will not support the
current human population for a period of 500 years at the current usage by
humanity of the earth's finite resources. Choose any growth rate you desire and
you can easily determine when humanity will destroy itself, if either economic
or population were to continue to grow.
“Ultimately the level of the human population will be determined
by level of the renewable resources the earth can provide to humanity on an
annual basis for an extended period of time as modified by the energy received
from the sun. Humanity can use its collective intelligence to increase the
efficiency of usage of the resources provided by the earth and humanity
can increase the resources provided by the earth by using the
energy received from the sun. However, neither of these will permit
infinite economic or population growth on the finite earth and ultimately
humanity must realize that its population level will be determined by the annual
amount of resources the earth can provide for an extended period of time. In my
opinion (and I am stating it very clearly to be my opinion) the earth cannot
support more than 300-500 million human beings for any period of time greater
than 500 years. I want to make it absolutely clear that my opinion is not based
on any mathematical calculation. Rather my opinion is based upon a review of
the problems presently facing our species.
“Population growth can be reduced to zero or made negative by
three and only three ways--a) By violence, starvation, rape, disease, ethnic
cleansing and other horrors after humanity has exceeded the carrying capacity
of the earth; b) By the voluntary action of all of humanity (and by all of
humanity I mean every group, nation, race, religion, and even every family and
person) for as long as humanity inhabits the earth; and c) By coercive
population control. Since population growth will cease humanity must
choose the method it will use to reduce population growth to zero or make it
negative, either by making a choice or nature will make that choice and that
choice will be by "a" set forth at the beginning of this paragraph.
“Population growth will not be reduced to zero or made negative by
each male fathering only one child and each female giving birth to one child.
Rather, population growth will be reduced by humanity being divided into two
groups-- a) Those that reproduce and b) Those that die before reproducing
or are not permitted to reproduce. Never once since life began on the earth has
population been controlled by each male fathering only one child and each
female giving birth to one child. In every single case, without even one
exception, over the last 3.6-4.0 billion years population growth for
every living species has been reduced by dividing the population
into the two groups described in this paragraph. The only choice humanity has
is to determine how the division into two groups will be made. If humanity does
not use its collective intelligence to make that division, nature will make it
by violence and the other ways described in "a" in paragraph 5
above.
“There are two and only two times at which population growth
can be reduced--a) After birth; and b) Before birth. Population growth will be
reduced after birth when humanity exceeds the carrying capacity of the
planet and at that time it will be reduced by the
horrors described in "a" in paragraph 5 above. Population
growth can be reduced before birth by artificial birth control and abortion.
Abortion is required, since even the best methods of birth control sometimes
fail and/or are not used properly. The rhythm method demanded by the Catholic
Church is not birth control. It is called Vatican Roulette for a very good
reason--its failure rate.
“In the event that population growth is reduced by the horrors set
forth in "a" in paragraph 5 (violence, starvation, rape,
disease, ethnic cleansing, and other horrors), in all probability
humanity will be unable to ever, or at least for thousands of years, restart
civilization. This will be caused by the fact that humanity has used up all of
the resources necessary to restart civilization prior to the violence or
as part of the violence. Humanity will return to the animal state--birth, eat,
reproduce, defecate, and die.”
##
Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents - from
the Arctic to the South Pole - as well as six times across the USA, coast to
coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway
to Athens, Greece. He presents "The Coming Population Crisis in America:
and what you can do about it" to civic clubs, church groups, high schools
and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com
He is the author of: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million
Americans. Copies available: 1 888 280 7715