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Finding myself outdoors. Date: Oct 26, 2011 |
7 Billion Day by 10-31-11 – 9 Billion of us by 2050 [hat tip to AE]
Halloween fright: 7 billion humans | MNN – Mother Nature Network by Russell McLendon
It took about 200,000 years for modern humans to reach the 1 billion mark in 1805, but then suddenly there were 2 billion of us in 1927, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974 and 5 billion in 1987. The 6 billion mark came in 1999, and 8 billion is due around 2025. We’re widely expected to hit 10 billion before the end of this century. …
In this first graph, notice how the time intervals change. Most of the bars skip 200-year gaps, but after 1800 the gaps shrink to 100, 50, 30, 20 and finally 11 years (I used 11 for the last one just so it would end on 2011). If humans were reproducing at a more linear rate, messing with the time intervals could distort the data, making our growth seem slow or stagnant. But that doesn’t happen. Compare the gaps between 1800-1900 and 2000-2011, for example: It took 100 years for us to grow by 736 million people in the 1800s, but now we’ve added 906 million in just 11 years.
Halloween fright: 7 billion humans | MNN – Mother Nature Network
Why current population growth is costing us the Earth | Roger Martin | Environment | The Guardian
Our population is rising while our ability to sustain life on Earth is shrinking – we must change before nature does it for us. by Roger Martin guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 October 2011 14.00 EDT
The 7 Billion Day is a sobering reminder of our planet’s predicament. We are increasing by 10,000 an hour. The median UN forecast is 9.3 billion by 2050, but the range varies by 2.5 billion – the total world population in 1950 – depending on how we work it out.
Every additional person needs food, water and energy, and produces more waste and pollution, so ratchets up our total impact on the planet, and ratchets down everyone else’s share…
Since we passed one billion in 1800, our rising numbers and consumption have already caused climate change, rising sea levels, expanding deserts and the "sixth extinction" of wildlife. …
Perhaps we can feed 9.3 billion people in 39 years’ time – I don’t know. We’re barely feeding seven billion now. But Norman Borlaug, accepting his Nobel peace prize in 1970 for his "green revolution", said: "I have only bought you a 40-year breathing space to stabilise your populations."
On a finite planet, the optimum population providing the best quality of life for all, is clearly much smaller than the maximum, permitting bare survival. The more we are, the less for each; fewer people mean better lives.
Roger Martin is chair of the charity Population Matters
Why current population growth is costing us the Earth | Roger Martin | Environment | The Guardian
The remedy requires better education for everyone – hard to provide to starving people. More autonomy / freedom for women to choose – unlikely in societies where women are property or subordinate. But if Gaia doesn’t kill us all, plagues will do what War is no longer effective at doing: wipe out masses. We’re too stupid to control ourselves; Nature will fix this problem for us, in a sweeping and unpleasant way.
World population – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
currently estimated to be 6.97 billion by the United States Census Bureau, as of October 25, 2011.[1]
World population – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
7 Billion People | 7 Billion Actions; a Global Movement for all Humanity.
“‘Tax the poor’ is a lousy political slogan.”
The GOP’s latest tax gimmickry: Soak the poor – The Washington Post
By E.J. Dionne Jr., Published: October 24
It’s one of the strangest things in our politics: The only “big” ideas Republicans and conservatives seem to offer these days revolve around novel and sometimes bizarre ways of cutting taxes on rich people. …
Republicans have boxed themselves into a rejection of both their own traditions and the idea that government can do any good. Thus they have confined themselves to endless fiddling with the tax code. Almost everything conservatives suggest these days is built around the single idea that if only government took less money away from the wealthy, all our problems would magically disappear. …
Reagan’s optimism has thus been replaced by crabby put-downs of the less affluent. Perry said it directly in his announcement speech: “We’re dismayed at the injustice that nearly half of all Americans don’t even pay any income tax.” Considering the other injustices in our society, this seems an odd and mean-spirited obsession.
“Tax the poor” is a lousy political slogan. That’s why Cain’s 9-9-9 plan and Perry’s flat tax are doomed to fail. Among conservatives, Santa Claus has given way to Scrooge.
The GOP’s latest tax gimmickry: Soak the poor – The Washington Post
But consistent with the long term “Starve the Beast” philosophy.
Quigley sorts it out, as usual
Albuquerque is lucky to have Winthrop Quigley, a clear and fine writer.
ABQJournal Online » Cycle of life, death sustains U.S. economy By Winthrop Quigley / Journal Staff Writer on Mon, Oct 24, 2011
I never worry very much about the American economy, no matter how awful things seem to be. The weak businesses are culled, the strong businesses thrive, capital and labor flow to the strong, and the economy keeps growing. It’s an ugly process, but it works. …
Something amazing is going to happen, and when it does somebody else’s employer will be killed. It’s wonderful. It’s terrible.
ABQJournal Online » Cycle of life, death sustains U.S. economy
Ignore Paul Gessing. He’s a paid curmudgeon.
Several times a month, Paul Gessing earns a paycheck by complaining about some public service or public benefit. He never disappoints his masters (the Koch brothers?).
Most recently, Gessing complained that the money spent on the only bridge over the Rio Grande built to serve pedestrians and bicycle riders should have been pissed away on the federal debt. Normally, Gessing has no need to conduct research, content to cut and paste from his masters’ playbook. In this case, Gessing sent employees to monitor the bridge for a few minutes out of a year. (How many employees does the un-think tank have?) Their conclusion, in part, is that they didn’t see anyone dressed for work, therefore, no commuters. Does Gessing really believe people wear coats and ties on bikes (or to most jobs in Albuquerque, for that matter). Most bike commuters dress for comfort and safety, which eliminates neck ties, monocles, and shoes with little tassels, like those favored by the “Rio Grande Foundation.” No one rides a bike with a briefcase dangling from the handlebars. After a cold commute, they dress at work, and then get sneered at by fat coworkers quoting Gessing. The luckiest can shower at work, as I did 30 years ago, as a bicycle commuter.
Not everyone who commutes by bike does so every day; some ride once a week. Let’s see Gessing station observers on the bridge seven days a week for one full month, 5am to 9pm, everyday. Then, his data will be more than just the crap he has now.
But it doesn’t matter to Gessing that he can’t recognize a bicycle commuter. It doesn’t actually matter to him how many people use the bridge. He doesn’t give a damn about quality of life, the health of the community, or the reputation Albuquerque enjoys as a nice place to live and work. All that matters is he earned another paycheck shooting down the public good and the community on behalf of his wealthy benefactors.
Parade Mag had to feature Dick Perry before he implodes. Impressive that he avoided looking crazy or stupid. Next up, Herman Cain.
Yes, “Dick.”
“an insurance company with an army”
An Insurance Company With An Army – NYTimes.com by Paul Krugman
[T]his seems like a good time to repeat, once again, the truth about federal spending: Your federal government is basically an insurance company with an army. The vast bulk of its spending goes to the big five: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and interest on the debt. …
[I]f you want smaller government, either you’re talking about cuts in the big five, or you have no idea what you’re talking about.
An Insurance Company With An Army – NYTimes.com [hat tip NewMexiKen]