U.S. Population To Top 300 Million This Month

[FVZA_Colonel]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061002/ts_nm/environment_population_dc



U.S. population to top 300 million this month
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially.

The U.S. Census Bureau predicts the 300 million mark will be reached in mid-October, 39 years after U.S. population topped 200 million and 91 years after it exceeded 100 million.

This will make the United States No. 3 in population in the world, after China and India.

Most of the growth is taking place in the South and West, according to the Census Bureau. From 2004 to 2005, U.S. population had a natural increase -- births minus deaths -- of 1.7 million and international migration of 1 million.

[Writer]

1. Multiplied by average American weight, it's more like 500 million.

;)

[Brundle_Fly]

2. congrats

on becoming 1/3 of china.

[Megahurtz]

3. But now let's ban Abortion!

We need EVEN MORE people!:sarcasm:

[Canuckistanian]

4. It'll be a boy, born of Hispanic parents, somewhere in L.A.

According to a statistician I heard on PBS last week.

That prediction was based on statistics on US population growth rates.

[antonialee839]

24. I'm hoping it will be my daughter, not Hispanic, but overdue by

a week.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. A 50% increase in less than 40 years! We reached the 200 million

mark way back in 1967.

[muryan]

6. The only reason we have the birth rate we do

is because of immigrants who are still having a large families. White families have the same birth rate as those in europe, its the diversity in the US that is keeping us growing at a decent rate.

[maxsolomon]

7. yay for large unplanned families with low incomes!

poverty makes america great!

[muryan]

10. a stagnant population is not the greatest thing in the world

Although africa and latin american need to curb their birth rates down a little bit, europe and the US need to keep a steady rate of population increase. Im in the steven hawking camp that mankind will only survive by reaching out and colonizing space, i also understand that this is something that wont happen for a long time. However if the population remains stagnant and we keep consuming resources at the rate we are, there will be less incentive to venture out for more resources until it is too late. Necessity IS the mother of all invention.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Deplete/destroy the earth via overpopulation as an incentive...

... to explore space, so we can overpopulate/deplete the next planet, and the next, and the next ad infinitum? Now there's a twisted bit of logic that could only spring from the mind of a species way too full of itself.

[muryan]

21. Personally Id rather see our species survive for a long time

Its very apparent to me that this planet will not be inhabitable in the future, so exploration and colonization will be necessary. So yes we would be moving from one to the next using resources, but its not like we are cutting down rain forests and destroying the habitats of countless animals. So far we havent found a planet with life, so moving in and using the resources wont have any detrimental effect.

[hogwyld]

23. What this planet needs is a severe drop in humans!

Saw on Discovery Atlas about China, and by 2030, we will need an entirely new planet of resources to satisfy just their needs, let alone the rest of the world. Somehow, we (the world) needs some sort of enforced family planning to bring the population down to about 2-3 billion. Remember, if we don't come to a solution, Mother Nature will impose one on us!

[rman]

13. Yay for planned low wages!

Corporate influence in government makes America great!

[area51]

14. "Yay for planned low wages!"

Exactly. There simply aren't enough jobs to go around for everyone who wants one. Why are job offerings so few, benefits scarce or non-existent, contract-only, short-term, or part-time? Because the economy is extremely bad & we're extremely overpopulated.

[rman]

17. And corporate lobbying to keep wages low has nothing to do with it

[muryan]

22. The entire US population could easily fit into Texas

we are not overpopulated, just plagued with a stagnant economy and unimaginative policy makers unwilling to expand an industry capable of creating a large amount of new jobs(alternative fuels anyone?)

[doubleplusgood]

30. we ARE overpopulated

Is the goal of human existence just to see how many people we can get on this planet? Jeezus. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that humans are killing the planet. We need to REDUCE the population, down to 1 billion or less worldwide, then we can devote societal energies to improving the QUALITY of life, not merely the QUANTITY. Now, THERE'S a thought.

[slaveplanet]

33. Now, THERE'S a thought.

yep, there are the thoughts of Hitler , Stalin and Pol Pot and modern elites.

Any other illuminated suggestions on who should be the first to go?

then we can devote societal energies

Seeing as how you seem to be under the impression that it's going to be you who will be sticking around and all?

[doubleplusgood]

34. ummm...excuse me?

Hitler? Pol Pot? Jeezus, quit making assumptions. Where did I talk about exterminating people? The "we" I speak of is ALL of humanity in general. Draconian methods aren't needed nor are they effective. Population can be slowly reduced over time with education, better health care & economic conditions...this is happening right now in most industrialized countries of Europe & Japan.

Perhaps you think endless population growth has no effect on the environment. Well, in case you missed it, the ever-increasing human population is destroying the planet. What do you think is causing global warming, deforestation, desertification, loss of fisheries, species extinctions? What is your solution to these very real problems?

[The2ndWheel]

35. Just one problem though

"Population can be slowly reduced over time with education, better health care & economic conditions"

With those conditions come overconsumption, which is just as big an issue.

[doubleplusgood]

36. sooooo....your solution is?

???

[maxsolomon]

19. well, yeah, yay for that too!

given planned low wages for unskilled labor, and competition for those jobs - curbing your birth rate is a rational response.

[rman]

20. so much for the "social responsibility" that corporations claim to have

[theHandpuppet]

12. We shouldn't be growing AT ALL.

What is a "decent rate" of growth? At what point is enough... well, ENOUGH? When we've paved over every square inch of farmland, decimated every forest, driven to extinction any non-human species, used up every drop of fresh water, destroyed the ecosphere with our ever-increasing need for energy, et al?

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH RIGHT NOW. And if folks aren't willing to be part of the solution, then they're part of the problem.

[The2ndWheel]

15. Enough hasn't been enough for thousands of years

We're not stopping now. Not voluntarily anyway.

[maxsolomon]

18. question growth!

http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/truecosteconomics/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. They're having babies over here...

so they don't have to have babies over there.

[NOLADEM]

8. Bush said to be hard at work to prevent this

[Hissyspit]

9. I remember it topping 200 million! Doubled in one generation.

I'm only 44. (Well, I remember being told when I was younger than ten that it had "just" topped 200 million.)

[jokerman93]

16. Yes but...

...just think of all that fresh chattel for the generational meat-grinder war on...er...um...who is it this week??? With the Amerikan economy and ethos sliding unhindered into third-world status, the options will be few and far between for this new generation. They will never know the possibilities and aspirations of the American experiment we were born to. Amerikans will find themselves increasingly corralled into various forms of corporate-military related servitude. Unless progressive thinking people of every country on the planet begin to rise up and demand radical change, this will be the norm (at least) for Amerika - a wasteland of lowered expectations and cultural blight - followed shortly by environmental catastrophe.

Anyone who still supports the Bush energy-war corporate juggernaut at this late date is a fool, a puppet, a collaborator and an enemy of humanity.

That is all.
J

[Spinoza]

25. By the time of the Japanese surrender

in August 1945 the United States, with a population of 130 million, had 16 million men and women in the armed forces. (The U.S. army alone was about 12 million.) Today, an equivalent armed force, based on population, would be an astonishing 36.8 million. I don't know why, but these kind of extrapolations are facinating to me.

[earth mom]

27. This country and world are way overpopulated.

This should be common knowledge, but somehow it isn't. :crazy:

[patrick t. cakes]

28. plenty

'o cannon fodder.

[Kip Humphrey]

29. STOP BREEDING, PEOPLE!!!

[The Anti-Neo Con]

31. I think 300 mil. is more than enough.

Things are already getting bad enough. Look at traffic congestion, and the sprawl of suburbs and exurbs. It's ruining our beautiful countryside.

I traveled to Mumbai, India with my friend Suraj in 2002. It was a great trip, but I saw firsthand how overpopulated things are there. People practically lived on top of each other, and it wasn't just the poor areas where it was that way. There are real problems in that country when it comes to protecting and preserving wildlife like the Bengal Tigers. I just don't want to see our country become that populated.

[Triana]

32. The US needs to encourage people to limit family size..

..to one or two children. Birth control and sterilization should be readily available and encouraged. It's not that hard. We can encourage people to conserve energy and recycle, we can encourage them to limit family size.

In fact, if they don't -- all the energy conservation and recycling won't make a wit of difference -- because overpopulation is at the core of environmental, poverty, crime, unemployment, and a great deal of other issues.

Population Control has to be #1 - it's the crux of the problem. If they are not going to address that - then forget the rest because it won't matter.