Humanity's 'inexorable' population growth is so rapid that even global catastrophe wouldn't stop it

[Newsjock]

Source: The Independent

The global human population is “locked in” to an inexorable rise this century and will not be easily shifted, even by apocalyptic events such as a third world war or lethal pandemic, a study has found.

There is no “quick fix” to the population time-bomb, because there are now so many people even unimaginable global disasters won't stop growth, scientists have concluded.

Although measures designed to reduce human fertility in the parts of the world where the population growth is fastest will eventually have a long-term impact on numbers, this has to go hand-in-hand with policies aimed at reducing the consumption of natural resources, they said.

Two prominent ecologists, who normally study animal populations in the wild, have concluded that the number of people in the world today will present one of the most daunting problems for sustainable living on the planet in the coming century – even if every country adopts a draconian “one child” policy.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/humanitys-inexorable-population-growth-is-so-rapid-that-even-global-catastrophe-wouldnt-stop-it-9821601.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Wanna Bet? nt

[tblue37]

2. I hate to say it, but we are probably due for a die off some time in this century,

or early in the next.

I am 64, so I probably will be spared the worst of it, but I fear for what my children and grandchildren will face.

[pennylane100]

3. That is exactly how I feel about it.

I am older than you so I also believe I will not be around when it happens but I think about my beloved children and their precious children and I wonder what life will be like for them.

Sadly, the parents of my youngest grandchildren are highly educated and live a comfortable upper middle class life. However, they do not see the dangers that are becoming more pronounced and what it will mean for their children. Yes, they recycle and donate to lots of causes but the only way things will get better is if they all become die hard environmentalists. They are not there yet. I just hope it is not too late for them and the millions like them to take up the fight.

And god help us all if the republicans gain the house and the senate. We will all be doomed.

[elias49]

6. I'm 62 and have to believe

that my children will do everything in their power to protect their children from harm and despair, just as my wife and I did for them.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. Does that include sustainable resource use and having fewer kids?

Reducing resource use and reproducing less are the only way to prevent that "harm and despair", probably.

[Recursion]

4. As the developing world, well, develops, their population growth slows and even stops

In fact, the single biggest predictor of economic growth (female education rates) is also the biggest predictor of decreasing birth rates.

[pampango]

9. True. Population growth is already down from over 2% a year from 1963 to 1972, to just over 1% now.

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_pop_grow&hl=en&dl=en

[EX500rider]

5. "will not be easily shifted, even by apocalyptic events such as a third world war"

I kinda doubt that sentence...if WWIII goes nuclear and involves all the major nuclear powers then most of the people in the northern hemisphere might die.

[IDemo]

8. Topsoil depletion, drought, ocean acidification, vanishing species,

global warming, energy depletion, etc, etc, etc.

I do not predict anything remotely approaching the numbers seen in these projections, and likely much less than we have now by the end of the century.

[jwirr]

15. And you have not included food shortages, epidemics, and all that good stuff. While the world is

producing a lot more children than we need we are also heading toward all these disasters. The article talks about a pandemic not all these disasters. We have our hands full when it comes to survival and it may come one at a time but we are already seeing most of them already.

I do not think the problem is going to be population for long even though population is contributing to much of this to.

[bemildred]

10. Exponential growth always crashes in a finite world. nt

[hunter]

11. It won't be just one catastrophe.

It will be exponential cascades of catastrophes. Humanity won't be able to pick and choose.

War, plague, starvation, rising oceans, extreme weather, economic collapse... with a handful of surprises like major dam failures, giant asteroid impacts, earthquakes, volcanoes, or tsunamis.

The point where historians might say "everything went wrong" is already in our past and probably begins with the industrial economy based on fossil fuels, and our religiously insane measures of "productivity" and "fertility" which are actually direct measures of environmental destruction.

Nature will end our exponential growth as she always has throughout the history of life on earth. If there is something truly "special" about humanity we will limit our environmental impacts on our own terms. But for now it seems we're no different than any other species that has experienced this kind of growth.

[snooper2]

14. Don't forget The Nothing

[ChisolmTrailDem]

12. Dinosaur population growth was probably inexorable too. nt

[randome]

13. There is a social cost to overpopulation that is ignored here.

The more people, the more everyone tries to stand out from the rest.
The more who try to stand out from the rest, the more who are tempted to bend or break the laws.
And therefore the more conflict arises.

We would all benefit from fewer people on this planet. Resources should be a primary concern but not the only one.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]