tagged w/ Population Pressure
-
The Meaning of Sustainability
by Albert A. Bartlett
Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder
Albert.Bartlett@Colorado.EDU
NOTE; This text was developed from an invited paper of the same title
that was presented August 1, 2011 at the National Summer Meeting of the
American Association of Physics Teachers held in Omaha, NebraskaThe Meaning of Sustainability
by Albert A. Bartlett
Professor Emeritus,... more
-
-
On the last day of October 2011, the global population of an upstart branch of the primate order will reach 7 billion.
What does it mean?
In itself, not much: Seven billion is just a one-digit flicker from 6,999,999,999. But the number carries a deep existential weight, symbolizing themes central to humanity’s relationship with the rest of life on Earth.
For context, let’s consider a few other numbers. The first: 10,000. That’s approximately how many Homo sapiens existed 200,000 years ago, the date at which scientists mark the divergence of our species from the rest of Homo genus, of which we are the sole survivors.
From those humble origins, humans — thanks to our smarts, long-distance running skills, verbal ability and skill with plants — proliferated at an almost inconceivable rate.
Some may note that, in a big-picture biological sense, humanity has rivals: In total biomass, ants weigh as much as we do, oceanic krill weigh more than both of us combined, and bacteria dwarf us all. Those are interesting factoids, but they belie a larger point.
Ants and krill and bacteria occupy an entirely different ecological level. A more appropriate comparison can be made between humans and other apex predators, which is precisely the ecological role humans evolved to play, and which — beneath our civilized veneer — we still are.
According to a back-of-the-envelope calculation, there are about 1.7 million other top-level, land-dwelling, mammalian predators on Earth. Put another way: For every non-human mammal sharing our niche, there are more than 4,000 of us.
In short, humans are Earth’s great omnivore, and our omnivorous nature can only be understood at global scales. Scientists estimate that 83 percent of the terrestrial biosphere is under direct human influence. Crops cover some 12 percent of Earth’s land surface, and account for more than one-third of terrestrial biomass. One-third of all available fresh water is diverted to human use.
Altogether, roughly 20 percent of Earth’s net terrestrial primary production, the sheer volume of life produced on land on this planet every year, is harvested for human purposes — and, to return to the comparative factoids, it’s all for a species that accounts for .00018 percent of Earth’s non-marine biomass.
We are the .00018 percent, and we use 20 percent. The purpose of that number isn’t to induce guilt, or blame humanity. The point of that number is perspective. At this snapshot in life’s history, at — per the insights of James C. Rettie, who imagined life on Earth as a yearlong movie — a few minutes after 11:45 p.m. on December 31, we are big. Very big.
However, it must be noted that, as we’ve become big, much of life had to get out of the way. When modern Homo sapiens started scrambling out of East Africa, the average extinction rate of other mammals was, in scientific terms, one per million species years. It’s 100 times that now, a number that threatens to make non-human life on Earth collapse.
In regard to that number, environmentalists usually say that humanity’s fate depends on the life around us. That’s debatable. Humans are adaptable and perfectly capable of living in squalor, without clean air or clean water or birds in the trees. If not, there wouldn’t be 7 billion of us. Conservation is a moral question, and probably not a utilitarian imperative.
But the fact remains that, for all of humanity to experience a material standard of living now enjoyed by a tiny fraction, we’d need four more Earths. It’s just not possible. And that, in the end, is the significance of 7 billion. It’s a challenge.
In just a few minutes of evolutionary time, humanity has become a force to be measured in terms of the entirety of life itself. How do we, want to live? For the answer, check back at 8 billion.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/7-billion-people/On the last day of October 2011, the global population of an upstart branch of the... more
-
-
"Funding for family planning services will be increased as the government comes to terms with the threat posed by the high population growth rate to realisation of the country’s economic goals.""Funding for family planning services will be increased as the government comes... more
-
-
BEIJING: Chinese planners are reportedly proposing to merge nine cities around the Pearl River Delta in the southern parts of the country, to create the world's biggest mega city, twice the size of Wales with a population of 42 million.
According to The Telegraph, the "Turn The Pearl River Delta Into One" scheme will create a 16,000 square mile urban area that is 26 times larger geographically than Greater London, or twice the size of Wales.
The new mega-city will cover a large part of China's manufacturing heartland, stretching from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and including Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing, which accounts for nearly a tenth of the Chinese economy, the paper said.
Around 150 major infrastructure projects would reportedly link the transport, energy, water, and telecommunications networks of the nine cities together at a cost of some two trillion Yuan (190 billion pounds) over the next ten years.
The paper quoted Ma Xiangming, the chief planner at the Guangdong Rural and Urban Planning Institute and a senior consultant on the project, as saying that an express rail line will also connect the hub with nearby Hong Kong.
"The idea is that when the cities are integrated, the residents can travel around freely and use the health care and other facilities in the different areas," Ma added.
He said that it will help spread industry and jobs more evenly across the region and public services will also be distributed more fairly, adding that 29 rail lines, totaling 3,100 miles, will be included, cutting rail journeys around the urban area to a maximum of one hour between different city centres.
The planners believe that the project would help in reduction of phone bills by 85 per cent and improve conditions of hospitals and schools. Besides, the major problem of pollution around the Pearl River Delta caused because of its industrialization would also be reportedly addressed.BEIJING: Chinese planners are reportedly proposing to merge nine cities around the... more
-
-
What if the world’s population of nearly 7 billion people lived in one giant megacity?What if the world’s population of nearly 7 billion people lived in one giant... more
-
-
-
- Housing developments choking wildlife around America's national parks -
Housing developments within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of America's national parks have nearly quadrupled in sixty years, rising from 9.8 million housing units to 38 million from 1940 to 2000. The explosion of housing developments adjacent to national parks threatens wildlife in a variety of ways, according to a new study in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"We are in danger of loving these protected areas to death," says co-author Anna Pidgeon as assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Housing developments introduce domestic species like dogs and cats; attract raccoons opossum, and skunks; threaten vital migration routes; give off extensive light pollution; and bring with them increased recreational use to important conservation areas.
The authors provide numerous examples of how the close proximity of houses hurt wildlife. Elk migrate from the mountains in the summer to the valleys in winters, but as Pidgeon points out that "in the Cascades, the valleys are now filled with orchards and houses."
Ground-nesting birds are threatened by alien predators like domestic cats and dogs. Window in homes also kill over a billion birds a year in the US, while cats kill approximately 400,000 birds a year.
Light pollution can interrupt hunting, travel, and migration for a variety of species including moths and other insects, amphibians and reptiles, bats, birds, and even some plants.
...
The researchers say that the trend of building adjacent to parks is not slowing down anytime soon: they estimate that by 2030 housing developments will grow by 45 percent from 2000 levels, including another 10 million units.
"I was shocked to think that these protected areas aren't doing the job we believe they were doing. There are now rings of housing around national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite. I don't think it's occurred to people to think about how that may affect biodiversity. These parks, wilderness areas and forests are intended to protect biodiversity, so we need look at what is going on," says Pidgeon.
Many countries have established buffer zones around national parks, putting in place regulations to protect species and ecosystems.
Related articles:
'Obama slower than Bush in protecting America's endangered species'
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1108-hance_obama_esa.html
In George W. Bush's eight years as president, he placed 62 species under the protection of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), an average of eight species per year. While, Bush's slow pace in protecting endangered species frustrated environmentalists in light of continued decline among many species, Obama is moving even slower.
http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0105-hance_housing.html- Housing developments choking wildlife around America's national parks -... more
-
-
Eugene Tsui has designed a concept city called The Ultima Tower that would help solve the global population crisis. Acting as a human termite nest, and costing $150 billion, these two mile high green towers would house over one million people in a one mile wide area. Instead of floors, the buildings interior would consist of a multi-dimensional ecosystem complete with neighborhood districts and 30-50 meter high skies. Lakes, streams, rivers, hills and ravines comprise the soil landscape on which residential, office, commercial, retail and entertainment buildings can be built.Eugene Tsui has designed a concept city called The Ultima Tower that would help solve... more
-
-
This video is about Plans to collapse the economy of United States and Enslave and eliminate most of the population, but beware this is a plan for the rest of the world, watch and find the truth, if you don't believe it then at least research what is being said before allowing your ignorance to take over.
Some things are just to simple to see.This video is about Plans to collapse the economy of United States and Enslave and... more
-
-
How do you count homeless people?
Why would you count homeless people?
7 years old is the average age of someone homeless in LA.
This new startling statistic is a sign of a changing homeless population.
Children are the fastest growing homeless demographic, along with their mothers, who have to sleep in their car or on the streets. The changing economy is presenting changing data.
Every two years the government obtains updated data on a city's homeless population. It is with this data that policy makers allocate appropriate funds to the streets, shelters, and blocks that desperately need it the most.
But where does this data come from? It isn't gathered by government workers, but by common volunteers with efficient execution and organization.
This group took on counting the homeless of Los Angeles as their mission, and the streets of Skid Row became their urban field.
Daniel Polk reports on why everybody counts.How do you count homeless people?
Why would you count homeless people?
7 years old... more
-
-
Abnormally high levels of toxic algae in the waters off the California coast are harming some of the ocean's top mammals. Adam Yamaguchi looks into what may be causing these deadly algal blooms.Abnormally high levels of toxic algae in the waters off the California coast are... more
-
-
Current's Mariana van Zeller heads to the Brazilian Amazon to search for the fabled Kambo frog, one of many organisms that could hold secrets for modern medicine. But are other potential cures being lost before they can be discovered?Current's Mariana van Zeller heads to the Brazilian Amazon to search for the... more
-
-
Hong Kong was hit with the firist H5N1 influenza outbreak in 1997 and successfully brought it under control. In the wake of a new threat of H5N1 what is Hong Kong doing to prepare for and prevent a possible pandemic?Hong Kong was hit with the firist H5N1 influenza outbreak in 1997 and successfully... more
-
-
Laura Ling looks at the battle against bird flu in Vietnam and how poor poultry farmers are dealing with having to kill their chickens.Laura Ling looks at the battle against bird flu in Vietnam and how poor poultry... more
-
-
An inside look at China's wild animal markets. Health experts are worried about these types of environments where humans and all sorts of animals mix, thereby increasing the chances for different strains of flu viruses to emerge and spread.An inside look at China's wild animal markets. Health experts are worried about... more
-
-
Laura Ling goes to Vietnam, the frontline in the fight against bird flu, to see what the government and people are doing to ward off a possible pandemic.Laura Ling goes to Vietnam, the frontline in the fight against bird flu, to see what... more
-
-
Laura Ling visits a native tribe in Brazil's Amazon forest.
-
-
A look at how the Amazon forest is being developed and how this is affecting preservation efforts.A look at how the Amazon forest is being developed and how this is affecting... more
-
-
Laura Ling travels to Brazil to see how indentured servants are being used to deforest the Amazon.Laura Ling travels to Brazil to see how indentured servants are being used to deforest... more
-
-
Laura Ling heads out with Brazil's anti-slavery task force in the Amazon jungle.
-
