The Road to 7 Billion People (Summer Assignment Post 1)
There are 7 billion people on this world, 7,245,000,000+ actually. That is an insane amount of people. In fact you can't even meet them all. If you wanted to shake the hand of all of the 7 Billion people, it would take you roughly 700 years (assuming you gave a 3 second hand shake). And to complicate matters, the UN estimates that by the time you got about 230 years into your handshaking process, the population will have grown by as much as 29 billion people... How frustrating, you would have to go much faster.
But the crazy thing is, I am looking out of my back window and I do not see any of them. Isn't that weird? Well, not entirely. We live in the 3rd most populous country on the planet, but Americans make up less than 5% of the worlds population. We have a lot of people spread over a wide territory. In America, our population density is roughly 87 people per square mile. That is pretty spread out. In Mumbai, India, there are 295,000 people per square mile... that's not a typo. Yikes!!! We have a lot of elbow room!
So where are all of these other people? The Pacific Rim mainly; over 50% of the worlds population lives there. If you look at a population density map, it won't take you long to find the region. There are so many people in the world and our history is as diverse as our geographic locations. Yet common themes unite us all.
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We have been on a pretty wild ride to 7 billion too! As a class, we are going to take a look at the tale that has led us to where we are today. To give you a sneak peek, take a look at the info graphic below then answer some of the questions below.
“Mankind By The Numbers Infographic.” 2015. The History Channel website. May 21 2015, 3:09 http://www.history.com/interactives/mankind-by-the-numbers-infographic.
Post Number One Questions (Choose Two):
- Do you think the population of the world can continue to grow at the current rate, why or why not? Or, how does population growth "somewhere else" effect us here at home?
- What do you find most interesting about the infographic titled "Mankind by the Numbers," what stands out to you and why?
- What is your favorite story in the tale of history?
1) First of all, not even scientists can agree on Earth's human carrying capacity. Estimates range frow lower than 7 billion to tens of billions. Personally, I see great potential for expansion. Many countries, such as the United States, have relatively low population densities. In these places, there is much room for growth. Other uninhabitable regions, such as the Antarctic and the Sahara Desert, could be terraformed, as is theorized with other planets. In this and other ways, I predict that scientific advancements and a willingness to spread out will help us to increase the carrying capacity.
ReplyDelete2) The most interesting fact that I learned from the info graphic was that 0.5% of the world's population lived in Rome in the first year A.D. After calculating, I realized that an even greater percent lives in Tokyo today. The carrying capacity of cities amazes me, and so they act as an example of what I predicted in question one: science will help us push the boundaries of our planet's ability to support us.
You bring up a really good point about Antarctica. We talk about the colonization of the moon, but Antarctica has many advantages over the moon. You know, like oxygen and stuff :) And while it might be cold, it certainly is no where near as cold as life in space.
DeleteI think technology will also play a huge role in our planet's potential. Vertical farming, for example, displays a lot of potential for increasing our food capacity. But, some things such as climate change, may be out of our control, unfortunately.
1. I think that the world can grow at this rate for quite a while. Once other countries decide their countries are too populated, I think they'll start sending their people to other countries or other areas of the world. Once places are over-crowded they will immigrate their people to places that have a lower population rate. They have enough technology to eventually create the right equipment to make the uninhabited parts of the world livable.
ReplyDelete2. And how about Australia’s aboriginal population? I mean, 2,000 generations! I find that very interesting.
Yeah, I agree. 2,000 generations! That is an incredible span. I wonder what crossed their minds when they first made contact with the outside world.
Delete1. Our population threshold depends on a few factors; firstly, waste. If our waste and carbon emissions grows with our population rate, we won't last long at all. Second, we've gotta have room to grow. There are several unpopulated areas on Earth to use, or we could potentially use other planets.
ReplyDelete2. The sheer explosion of population between 1 and 2000 AD was staggering, thanks to technological and agricultural advancements. It blows my mind!
Yeah, waste is a huge problem. We are dirty... Maybe we could just blast our trash into space? But in all seriousness, you raise a good point, we are really going to have to clean up our act if we hope to continue our growth.
Delete1) While I believe that we can continue to grow at the current birth rate, there's still the fact that if we use more land for housing we would also need more land for growing food. We can keep growing simply because we have room on our planet and once we actually have the technology to colonize and harvest other planets we have that too. However, because we apparently need to live way past our prime and into our 70's+ and our push to reduce things like murders, I think that we will definitely run out of room and enter a period of crisis in which we have to ration food or have some sort of "lottery" where if you get certain numbers you live and other numbers you die (yeah that seems kind of inhumane, but if we want to survive maybe we'd have to).
ReplyDelete2) I found that approx. 23 million people likely descending from Genghis Khan is pretty interesting. Mainly so because through a family tree for his "family" would be unpredictable and of course large. While you would have to assume that he "got with a lot of ladies" in his time, looking at his family free would show exactly how many children he had and which ones helped expand that staggering 23 million and how many had no children, all the way down to those whom are supposedly descendants now.
Yeah, Genhis was a pretty interesting dude. 23 million people is a lot. It is also interesting that while 23 m can call him great great (etc) grandpa, he killed over 40 million people in his campaigns over 10% of the worlds population. Not very nice...
Delete1) While I believe that we can continue to grow at the current birth rate, there's still the fact that if we use more land for housing we would also need more land for growing food. We can keep growing simply because we have room on our planet and once we actually have the technology to colonize and harvest other planets we have that too. However, because we apparently need to live way past our prime and into our 70's+ and our push to reduce things like murders, I think that we will definitely run out of room and enter a period of crisis in which we have to ration food or have some sort of "lottery" where if you get certain numbers you live and other numbers you die (yeah that seems kind of inhumane, but if we want to survive maybe we'd have to).
ReplyDelete2) I found that approx. 23 million people likely descending from Genghis Khan is pretty interesting. Mainly so because through a family tree for his "family" would be unpredictable and of course large. While you would have to assume that he "got with a lot of ladies" in his time, looking at his family free would show exactly how many children he had and which ones helped expand that staggering 23 million and how many had no children, all the way down to those whom are supposedly descendants now.
1) At the rate we're growing, and how much we use the Earth's resources, we can't keep going like this. In biology you learn about competition within a species, which humans are a perfect example of. We murder each other over land, resources, ideals, and even people. So what happens when you make resources scarce, we'll fight, one of survival, the worst scenario. So unless we "go green," we aren't gonna survive what comes after the resources are gone.
ReplyDelete2) The birth/death ratio is insane. I really thought it would be more even, but it's not even close. But it does make sense, since people live longer now. The fact we've tripled people's life spans is just insane to me.
1.The population of the world will continue to grow at its current rate and may increase. As technology and medicines advance, the life span of most people will grow greater which will increase the the populations growth rate. But Population growth in other countries will make some resources scarce which could affect us here.
ReplyDelete2.I find it interesting that the population quadrupled in 200 years after the industrial age.
Yeah, I would think that medicines could potentially effect the population on the largest scale. If we were able to cure heart disease or cancer, we could see even higher increases in the population!
Delete1. I think the population of the world can and will continue to grow at the current rate for awhile until the Earth can't withhold so many people, until we reach our carrying capacity - who knows who that is. If we keep treating the Earth as a garbage can, including pollution and anything bad for the Earth, the end will come sooner. If we want to last longer on Earth we need to take better care of it, including wild life. We must preserve our resources.
ReplyDelete2. A few facts I found interesting are:
1 - Rome was the first city to have 1 million people. Today more than 300 do, including 33 cities in Africa alone.
2 - Metro Tokyo is home to 37 million people. It's the largest urban city in the world.
3 - 88% of the world's rural population lives in Asia or Africa.
4 - 50.5% Urban vs. 49.5% Rural.
2) I'm fascinated by the aboriginal people of Australia. Most native communities throughout history have been steam-rolled by imperialism, yet the native population of Australia has managed to not only survive, but also thrive for generations.
ReplyDelete3) One of my favorite stories is the Christmas Ceasefire. It perfectly represents what makes humanity worthwhile. Individual stories of people rising above borders and nationalites are what makes learning history interesting.
1. Yes I do believe we can keep growing because everyone in the world could roughly fit into one state here in the united states. As long as we keep farming, I think we can support a growing planet.
ReplyDelete2. The thing that stands out the most to me is the death rate. Its crazy to me that so many people are dying in such a short time.
3. My favorite tale is about how there were 2 warring strategists in Asia (I think) and one out smarted the other one, who was attacking, by literally inviting the whole army into his open fortress. The attacking one thought it was just an elaborate ambush and quickly fled when in reality, there were not enough people in the defending fortress to even think about fighting the other army.
1. Yes I do believe we can keep growing because everyone in the world could roughly fit into one state here in the united states. As long as we keep farming, I think we can support a growing planet.
ReplyDelete2. The thing that stands out the most to me is the death rate. Its crazy to me that so many people are dying in such a short time.
3. My favorite tale is about how there were 2 warring strategists in Asia (I think) and one out smarted the other one, who was attacking, by literally inviting the whole army into his open fortress. The attacking one thought it was just an elaborate ambush and quickly fled when in reality, there were not enough people in the defending fortress to even think about fighting the other army.