On Monday, the world population hit 7 billion.
Or at least some time around Monday. Regardless, the day has been chosen by the United Nations to symbolize the advent of 7 billion people in the world.
Halloween seems like an appropriate day for this eerie prospect. Because according to U.N. estimates, based on growth thus far, population could hit 9.3 billion by 2050, as the LA Times reports.
The article notes that it is not only developed countries that are seeing high growths. Developing countries especially, as their resources improve, are expected to have huge population jumps over this time.
The Christian Science Monitor also revealed some scary facts. Like the fact that in the past 60 years, the population jumped by 4.5 billion. Or that in developed countries, 222 million tons of food are wasted every year.
This is not good for the world’s resources. Oil consumption is not slowing down, and that resource is limited in the world.
Food is limited as well, and at the rate it is wasted, the world’s high population of the starving will not diminish.
Alternative energy companies are working to turn around some of these population problems, and natural power sources like solar and wind could be the only option in the future. It may not be long before our liquid fuels run dry.
For now, the U.S. will thrive on the boom of natural gas, but even that has limited days.
So how to avoid a complete destruction of the world’s resources with this exponentially growing population?
There’s no real answer to that question. But the U.N., according to the Christian Science Monitor, started the 7 Billion Actions plan from their Population Fund, which is looking into the population growth and resource consumption. The group will discuss the problems that arise from this and raise awareness about the growing threat.
The LA Times reported that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is planning to hold a conference on Monday. The issues at hand will be addressed in this conference.
Perhaps awareness will urge people to be smarter about consumption and boost an interest in alternative energy, which could lessen the weight on world resources.
But many will still turn a blind eye until imminent problems surface.
That’s all for now,
Brianna
