Population overstressing resources

Life on earth is doomed. The climate change talks in Paris are just a delaying tactic to the inevitable. What was not discussed? The underlying cause: population growth.

We use less coal per person, more efficient cars, solar panels, wind turbines, and the problems get worse.

It took the whole of human history up to 1960 to reach 3 billion people, and yet by 2011 it was 7 billion. So, in 51 years more people were added than in all the rest of history.

It’s like a math problem. For every increase in population, the byproducts outpace whatever reforms are made, and the problem for the environment gets worse. More people means fewer forests, more pollution, more food needed, more natural resources used, etc.

And, sadly, it is a problem that cannot be solved due to our current business model, which requires business to constantly grow. That requires more customers, and so more population, and so on.

So, with the climate talks, we have kicked the can down the road a little.

Maybe the next time the world leaders will discuss the real problem _ over-population _ before the world becomes like the movie “Soylent Green.”

Jon Stanescu

Sprague, WA