Earths Population - When is too much, enough?

[Thief000]

The earth has apparently been feeding life for millions/billions of years, I highly doubt much is going to change in another 100

Not in these numbers with such a huge amount of biomass it has. That has never been the case.

[Detection]

Not in these numbers with such a huge amount of biomass it has. That has never been the case.

People mass combined vs Earth mass is absolutely no comparison, the Earth is not just its surface, there are miles deep of resources, nothing is going to happen in 1000 years let alone 100

[Thief000]

People mass combined vs Earth mass is absolutely no comparison, the Earth is not just its surface, there are miles deep of resources, nothing is going to happen in 1000 years let alone 100

If you truly believe that and think we get our food from miles deep, then wow. Good luck!

[TrevorLahey]

I'd be alright with natural selection... :laugh:

[shakey]

People mass combined vs Earth mass is absolutely no comparison, the Earth is not just its surface, there are miles deep of resources, nothing is going to happen in 1000 years let alone 100

Food doesn't grow underground... at least not a whole lot of it does. Most requires sun light and air. Can't farm miles deep in the ground very well. We can only use so much of the resources before we are screwed. Not sure if you are trolling, as I know you should be able to understand such a simple concept....

[Detection]

wow are people really that dumb to think I meant we get our food from underground ?

Soil / Water etc etc ??

Plants reproduce, Animals reproduce, we're not going to run out of them and hmmm don't they = almost 100% of what we eat ?

[shakey]

wow are people really that dumb to think I meant we get our food from underground ?

Soil / Water etc etc ??

Plants reproduce, Animals reproduce, we're not going to run out of them and hmmm don't they = almost 100% of what we eat ?

Actually yes, we are. Do you know anything about farming? How you can't just keep using the same land over and over, and that eventually, things die, even nutrients in dirt. As things die off, animals will follow suit.

Unless we just switch total GM animals and other foods, we will run out.

[Detection]

Actually yes, we are. Do you know anything about farming? How you can't just keep using the same land over and over, and that eventually, things die, even nutrients in dirt. As things die off, animals will follow suit.

Unless we just switch total GM animals and other foods, we will run out.

Ok, well I'm not arguing with the numerous tinfoil / gods who think they know everything about everything

In 50 years if we are 50% closer to running out of food, I`ll hold my hands up, but considering what I said earlier about Earth already having supported life for million/billions of years, I am not going to argue about a problem that doesn't exist

[shakey]

Ok, well I'm not arguing with the numerous tinfoil / gods who think they know everything about everything

In 50 years if we are 50% closer to running out of food, I`ll hold my hands up, but considering what I said earlier about Earth already having supported life for million/billions of years, I am not going to argue about a problem that doesn't exist

So just because something has been doing something for a while, means it will keep on doing it? The sun will never burn out, because it has been burning for already millions to billions of years..... See how stupid it sounds when put into perspective?

Everything has a limit.

[Detection]

So just because something has been doing something for a while, means it will keep on doing it? The sun will never burn out, because it has been burning for already millions to billions of years..... See how stupid it sounds when put into perspective?

Everything has a limit.

You think the sun will suddenly stop burning ?

You think the Earth will suddenly stop providing ?

No, these are things even bigger than you can comprehend unfortunately, these things will take 1000s of years to slowly drain dry, it won't be a sudden 100 year stop, and 100 years to the sun or the earth is like a ms to us

Now see how stupid what you are saying sounds ?

It takes a human 100 years to die (give or take) THAT is putting it into perspective

[shakey]

You think the sun will suddenly stop burning ?

You think the Earth will suddenly stop providing ?

No, these are things even bigger than you can comprehend unfortunately, these things will take 1000s of years to slowly drain dry, it won't be a sudden 100 year stop, and 100 years to the sun or the earth is like a ms to us

Now see how stupid what you are saying sounds ?

It takes a human 100 years to die (give or take) THAT is putting it into perspective

The sun will windle down. The earth will to. It is already. http://news.national...nvironment.html

We are losing many forrest and other types of habitate. Bee's are becoming smaller and smaller in number. Many things are slowly going down. If you don't have to believe it, because it is true. Just educate yourself a little. for **** sakes.

Those things may be too big for you to comprehend, but I can just fine.

[Detection]

The sun will windle down. The earth will to. It is already. http://news.national...nvironment.html

We are losing many forrest and other types of habitate. Bee's are becoming smaller and smaller in number. Many things are slowly going down. If you don't have to believe it, because it is true. Just educate yourself a little. for **** sakes.

Those things may be too big for you to comprehend, but I can just fine.

I don't think you can, things change, species become extinct, others are discovered, 100 years for everything to die ? That's a joke

And Bees ? lol wut

[shakey]

I don't think you can, things change, species become extinct, others are discovered, 100 years for everything to die ? That's a joke

And Bees ? lol wut

I don't think you can, things change, species become extinct, others are discovered, 100 years for everything to die ? That's a joke

And Bees ? lol wut

Google it. Bee's play a very improtant part in our ecosystem, and they are in a sharp decline. It affects us greatly. But, if you don't know this, I don't see how you have anything to say about it....

I don't care about what you "think". I care about fact.

[Detection]

Google it. Bee's play a very improtant part in our ecosystem, and they are in a sharp decline. It affects us greatly. But, if you don't know this, I don't see how you have anything to say about it....

I don't care about what you "think". I care about fact.

Ok, you enjoy yourself worrying about nothing, and I`ll get on with knowing we`ll be fine

But hey, in 100 years, don't forget to come tell me I was wrong ok ;)

[Fish]

I saw a documentary recently that said, if managed correctly, the Earth's resources could theoretically support something like 20 billion people. In what manner of comfort, I don't know, but the number astonished me none the less.

As it stands, today we're useless at it. Huge stockpiles of food in some parts of the world, and barely enough in many other parts. I can't see how we can support much more than the ~7 billion currently.

[RiverCampher]

Truly, the earths 'maximum' population is dependent on what you class as suitable living conditions. I'm sure we could in reality support 10x or more people, just build tall flats for everyone, all the rest of the land would become farms to support our needs.

In 1st world countries, over population isn't an issue. However, in African nations, it's a really bad thing... There is limited food to go around, so when famine and drought hit, it really kills lots and lots of people. You see it on the TV every few years, and I do feel pity for the people as they have no wish to suffer themselves.

Because of their religious beliefs and poor standards of education, they know little or disregard birth control (Remember guys, they don't have TV or Xboxs, sex is quite a thrill and it's more about the basics out there). They have little to pass on to their children but have lots of children to support the family. The old way left many to die, but with improved science and tech, they are dying less at a younger age. If you have those things coupled with high birth rates (perhaps up to 6 per couple), you can understand how rapidly the country can very very overpopulated.

In essence, someone needs to bring a real form of education to African nations and start a movement to correct this problem. It will require unbelievable amounts of money, but it will start the cogs whirring to curb the problem.

[shakey]

Ok, you enjoy yourself worrying about nothing, and I`ll get on with knowing we`ll be fine

But hey, in 100 years, don't forget to come tell me I was wrong ok ;)

No one ever said it is going to happen soon. But nice smug attitude about something you apparently already have shown to have 0 knowledge about.

[DrakeN2k]

You could cover the whole world in farmland what about every other thing on this world. I know in economics they are worthless.

The whole world can support 15 Bl people + but we are consuming equal oil than we are discovering . I don't think 2X population consuming 2X and more oil is a good thing.

[Detection]

No one ever said it is going to happen soon. But nice smug attitude about something you apparently already have shown to have 0 knowledge about.

Did you read the thread ?

Once again, it's not about space, it's about resources. It's funny that only a few of you seem to get that. Sure we could cram more and more into a tiny space and let the rest of the Earth be farmland, but the Earth does have its limits. Unless humanity starts changing the way it consumes energy and other resources there will be a huge problem in the next 100 years. Oil and food will be short and those will be sold at premium prices that most will not be able to afford. We need different energy and food sources. And yes, even those genetically manipulated crops are showing signs of failure as many that were engineered to be resistant to certain bugs are already showing weak points and those bugs are the ones becoming resistant to those crops and eat/attack them once again. And those that think we will level out...I think we wont, the number will rise exponentially untill some form of disaster happens or we limit population ourselves through diverse means. Advances in medicine are one of those things that is changing the natural order of things. The survival of the fittest rule of evolution no longer applies because of it in this day and age (and this is coming from an MD). I'm not saying what I'm doing as an MD is bad (I love helping people) but we are the ones that have changed the human population drastically from what it was 100 years ago and many people that would have died of natural causes, simply haven't and have been given a chance to procreate and increase our numbers. If that immoratlity gene becomes reality and its use becomes widespread and we still procreate the way we do know, then the sh*t will really hit the fan, so to speak.

[J_R_G]

The issue is not resources, it's distribution of those resources. I know many of you want to immediately blame rich Americans, but actually the fact is that most starving people are starved because their own government (or controlling factions) is inefficient, corrupt, and uses starvation as a weapon and control tool. People in Africa are not starving because of population and lack of farm land, they are starving because constant war and fighting make it impossible to farm that land, corruption and inefficiency of tyrannical socialist governments make it unprofitable and therefore impossible to maintain, and so on. Everybody wants to fix the resource issue as long as it means making more put downs for wealthy Americans who have nothing to do with it, when you start talking about a real fix like eradicating the socialists governments and warring factions that own these people like slaves, well, then people aren't so concerned with the issue any more, then the problem doesn't get fixed and it looks like the problem is unfixable and something indicative of a catastrophic event for the entire planet.

[shakey]

In the next 100 years it will be a problem. You are acting like this is something that is going to just pop up. This is something that has been happening. And at the current rate , in 100 years, it will be a VERY big problem.

[Detection]

You are acting like this is something that is going to just pop up.

?????? WTF are you on about now ?

That is the exact opposite of what I have been saying.

Show me ANY part of my posts that said this was just going to pop up

I said this was not even going to happen, and if it did, it would take thousands of years to slowly happen, if it was going to be a huge problem in 100 years, we'd all be fighting over food today, which we're not

[Pow]

I don't think thousands of years. One hundred years there will be a big change. Energy requirements, pollution, lack of oil, trees, food, so many people, climate change, rising sea levels.

We are already seeing some of the effects.

I mean wasn't it 1950s there was like 3 billion population, now there's 7 billion. How long do you think this is going to on for? People are cutting down forests like amazon. In hundred years without control a lot of it will be gone.

Bees are one of the key areas of life

[chrisj1968]

baloney! you can put everyone on earth within the state of Texas alone and everyone will have a 2 acre plot. LOL

do the math yourselves

1 square mile = 5280 x 5280 square feet = 27,878,400 square feet. So 268,581 square miles = 7,487,608,550,400. For simplicity say 7.5 x 10^12. That divided by 7 x 10^9 is indeed over 1000 square feet per person. So if we made one giant one-story compound over Texas, land, water, and all, we would each get a 1,000 square foot unit.

[TPreston]

baloney! you can put everyone on earth within the state of Texas alone and everyone will have a 2 acre plot. LOL

do the math yourselves

Wow! What an original post, That's not been brought up 6 times already in this thread.

Now show us how to keep everyone in there healthy with ample power. Then show us how to improve this year upon year...