Billion Less by 2050

Billion Less - More important than ever

It's been a few years since I have put up a post on Billion Less. There are no real signs slowing of population growth. However there has been a growing consensus that humans have had a major impact the warming and rising oceans. People are beginning to admit there is a 1:1 relationship between the population and global warming. Publicly, the only talk is how to provide cleaner energy, more food and provide more education for women that will eventually curb the number of children. While these are good goals, politically correct, they are a sideways approach to the problem of unfettered population growth.

Now there are a few countries that lower birthrates and are worried about the imbalance between old and young and its effect on the economy. I think that's a good problem to have. Ultimately, this balances the other side of the coin which is the growing number of jobs displaced by technology. So while immigration might be a good temporary fix, it may create a lesser privileged, high-birthrate group in a society that will increasingly find it harder to get jobs. Could you say, welcome to my country if you don't procreate?

You can see the problems of mass movements of refugees. I have compassion for them because I probably would be one of them if I lived in a trouble spot. There are extreme tensions exacerbated by over population and the fight over limited resources. Water will be the big problem soon.

At the risk of being politically incorrect, there seem to be groups that want to dominate an ideology by increasing their population and spreading themselves through out the world. This has to stop. How about birth control in the water supply? Just kidding! These conflicts and terrorism drag the rest of world down with non-productive activities like war. Have climate scientists asked themselves about the carbon impact of war? How much energy and atmospheric carbon does it take to make a bomb, ship, missile, tank, gun, drone, transportation, etc..? How much carbon is released when a bomb explodes? How much carbon is required to rebuild? Let's take much of the pressure off these situations by reducing the population. 

Hubris, entitlement, religion: Humans tend to have these problems in spades. My way is better than yours, my religious faction better, no one can tell me what to do - specifically creating children. And, no one is worse than the USA: Just look at the republicans vs democrats, the religious right, the gun lobby vs Sandy Hook, climate change deniers, Black Lives Matter, income inequality, etc... It's time to put most of this aside in the USA and in the world. Let's license the one thing that really matters - having children. I often get the impression that we have defeated the laws of Darwin and now the strong have fewer kids. The most productive part of the world population is regressing, while the less productive part grows in numbers and demands. It turns my stomach when the media features some poor woman with 5+ kids as if she were a saint. Should we find a way to restore better "Darwinian" balance? 

Enough of my rant. If I am not back here for a while, please speak out for decreasing worldwide population. Could we change the curve in the graph so that it peaks in 2030 and falls back to 7 Billion by 2050 and 6 Billion by 2075? I think so. It is more relevant than ever. 

Regards, Ted

 

 

 

 

 

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