Billion Less by 2050

2004 UN Report 9.1 Billion by 2050

This is from a United Nations Pressrelease dated Feburary 24, 2005, POP/918. Let's start now to reverse the prediction.

WORLD POPULATION TO INCREASE BY 2.6 BILLION OVER NEXT 45 YEARS, WITH ALL GROWTH OCCURRING IN LESS DEVELOPED REGIONS

Numbers to Rise from Present 6.5 Billion, Hitting 9.1 Billion by 2050, According to Official UN Estimates

NEW YORK, 24 February -- World population is expected to increase by 2.6 billion over the next 45 years, from 6.5 billion today to 9.1 billion in 2050. Almost all growth will take place in the less developed regions, where today’s 5.3 billion population is expected to swell to 7.8 billion in 2050. By contrast, the population of the more developed regions will remain mostly unchanged, at 1.2 billion. More...

Also: http://www.unpopulation.org

Mission

I am Ted Schaefer. I admit that I have no particular qualifications to speak on this subject, except a it has interested me for years and I have a science/tech background. It occured to me that the one topic missing from the conversations about global warming was the number of people on the planet. It seems to me that the fastest way to reduce global warming is to reduce the planet's population. The mission of this blog is to begin a dialog around this goal:

Reduce the population by 1 billion: from 6.6 billion to 5.6 billion, about 15%, by the year 2050.

We have to do many things to reduce global warming, all good, but until we get a handle on population, we are only tinkering at the edges.

Would a 1 billion reduction by 2050 be achievable? What does a goal like this imply for a growth oriented world? Why is no one talking about population as part of the problem if not the main problem?

Let me know what you think.

- Ted