Start counting out loud...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10....That is the human population growth taking place right now on this Planet. If you continue counting for 24 hours you will get to about 200,000 which the amount of human population growth added everyday on Earth. (350,000 babies are born everyday & 150,000 humans die everyday) About 74 million humans are added each year!
For most of human history Homo Sapiens species population has been far below one Billion. In 1800 it reached one Billion, by 1960 it reached 3 Billion, & less than 50 years later is approaching 7 Billion.
Almost all of ecological & society's problems can be traced to overpopulation. Deforestation, loss of species, soil erosion, pollution, & numerous other problems have roots in mankind's relentless quest to populate the Planet. When we cut tropical rain forests to raise cattle to kill for fast-food 'hamburgers' we are basically turning the Earth into a giant human feedlot.
Octopussy is not only the name of an old James Bond movie but also a name given to the recent 'Octo-Mom', a U.S. woman with 6 children who decided to go to a fertility clinic & ended up giving birth to eight more! Now she has her own TV show & so does another family who will soon be having their 18th kid! Instead of celebrating these idiots perhaps their husband/partners should be taken to a clinic & given a few snips to end their prolific stupidity!
The fact is that anyone having more than 2 children is contributing to overpopulation. You may be a mother reading this with 3 or more children(I am not calling you stupid!) so to balance the population let's hope at least one of your kids is Gay or becomes a monk or nun!
The main factor in population increase has been the rise in production of food. With the discovery of oil & the development of the tractor humans were suddenly able to produce many more crops than just using horses or oxen.
Another factor has been Religion. 'Be fruitful & multiply' has been a Bible tenet & organizations like the Catholic Church & their opposition to birth control has made Christianity the most followed religion. Of course this has consequences as an overpopulated Catholic country like the Philippines is now a net importer of rice. (while a Buddhist country like Thailand is an exporter) Protestant sub-sects like Mormonism are prolific breeders too & obviously Christian tenets like being 'good stewards' of the Earth are not highly valued.
Despite wacko's like the Octomom the birthrate in most wealthy democracies is going down. One of the single most factors in causing a birthrate to decrease is providing education & access to birth control to women. When women are given opportunities they overwhelmingly chose to limit the number of children they have to create a better quality of life for themselves & their children. We need to support family planning clinics in every nation & community. We also need to stop demonizing women who chose to have abortions. (Without abortions the population growth would be much greater)
Kid's are great! Let's just stop having so damn many of them.
For a fascinating look at population growth & other mind-boggling global statistics/World Clock
http://www.peterrussell.com
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