My place on Earth.

[PpPete]

Graph shows the rate of increase to be slowing down in the future... wonder what they base that on?

 

[snailracer]

Aparently there's plenty of room - if the 7 billion of us were to stand shoulder to shoulder, we'd all fit into France.
...

This is how they work out the capacity of tube trains

Nonono, we would all fit into France if we lived at the same population density as Paris.

Also, if overcrowding was such a terrible thing, why wouldn't city dwellers just leave? I think it's because us humans, in truth, actually prefer living cheek-by-jowl, despite claims otherwise.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

Graph shows the rate of increase to be slowing down in the future... wonder what they base that on?

My brother is now of fathering age. He is the proverbial last man on earth.

Nonono, we would all fit into France if we lived at the same population density as Paris.

Also, if overcrowding was such a terrible thing, why wouldn't city dwellers just leave? I think it's because us humans, in truth, actually prefer living cheek-by-jowl, despite claims otherwise.

Because all the acting work is in London. The amount of times I have considered jacking it in and moving to the countryside has increased rapidly over the past few years.

 

[snailracer]

...Because all the acting work is in London. The amount of times I have considered jacking it in and moving to the countryside has increased rapidly over the past few years.

But that proves my point - you preferred the choices available to you in the city rather than the countryside.

 

[martint235]

Graph shows the rate of increase to be slowing down in the future... wonder what they base that on?

From watching the item on the BBC, the average number of children per couple has dropped from 5 to 2.5 (I think it means in the developing world but not sure). They also say they expect the population to start falling by 2100.

 

[Melonfish]

When you were born, you were the:
4,405,432,427th person alive on Earth
78,967,618,832nd person to have lived since history began

not bad, that graph doesn't half shoot up after 1950 though.

 

[Arch]

But that proves my point - you preferred the choices available to you in the city rather than the countryside.

But the problem of increasing population isn't just to do with the physical space it requires for the people.

We have to grow food, mine minerals, collect water. For each person (and people can be stacked conveniently in tower blocks etc), you need a given area of land - yes, you could grow some stuff hydroponically in restricted spaces, but there's still water and other resources to get.

What's the figure about how many Earths we'd need, if everyone in the world lived a Western lifestyle?

 

[007fair]

But the problem of increasing population isn't just to do with the physical space it requires for the people.

We have to grow food, mine minerals, collect water. For each person (and people can be stacked conveniently in tower blocks etc), you need a given area of land - yes, you could grow some stuff hydroponically in restricted spaces, but there's still water and other resources to get.

What's the figure about how many Earths we'd need, if everyone in the world lived a Western lifestyle?

1st bit true.

2nd bit about western lifestyle not so much Western lifestyle means less kids as other choices become more desirable.

 

[Arch]

1st bit true.

2nd bit about western lifestyle not so much Western lifestyle means less kids as other choices become more desirable.

I meant if everyone now alive was going to live at the standards we take for granted now, as opposed to looking at the longer term changes in birth rate it might bring. I can't remember the figure, but it's something like 4 or 5 planets-worth I think.

Ah, a bit of googling, and I see it's 5 (if we all lived like Americans*)

http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=5302

*That's an average American, of course, there will be some who live more sustainably. But then some who live even less so!

 

[007fair]

I meant if everyone now alive was going to live at the standards we take for granted now, as opposed to looking at the longer term changes in birth rate it might bring. I can't remember the figure, but it's something like 4 or 5 planets-worth I think.

Ah, a bit of googling, and I see it's 5 (if we all lived like Americans*)

http://www.greenchan...cle.php?id=5302

*That's an average American, of course, there will be some who live more sustainably. But then some who live even less so!

we ain't getting 1 extra planet never 5 !

Point taken and well made

To me everyone should live more simply irrespective of sustainability (not to discount this though). A life with more focus on what matters most and with respect for others and our place in the universe. Its like some people think life owes them something.. they deserve alot just by being here rather than being priviliged (eek.. sp?) to be alive

 

[MissTillyFlop]

But that proves my point - you preferred the choices available to you in the city rather than the countryside.

But then again, my hating the tube was one of the factors that got me into cycling. So now I get the choice AND I don't use the tube - win/win!

 

[Night Train]

When you were born, you were the:
3,424,223,836th
person alive on Earth
77,393,554,416th
person to have lived since history began

Totally meaningless. I am absolutlely certain that I was not the only person on Earth to have been born on my birthday. Given I was born late at night it must have been a very quite day in the maternity wards of the world!

 

[Arch]

Totally meaningless. I am absolutlely certain that I was not the only person on Earth to have been born on my birthday. Given I was born late at night it must have been a very quite day in the maternity wards of the world!

Ah, it was the breathless anticipation of your arrival!

True though, just like the 'since history began', it's a spurious level of precision. The graph showing the upward trend is more telling really.

(hmmm, if you were to enter my birthday, for example, would you get the same number as me, or is there a degree of random number generating (within boundaries) going on?)

 

[Arch]

OK, I did it again and got the same number. I suspect they've chosen one plausible number for each date.

 

[Maz]

Person No.1 must've been happy...no mother-in-law, and all that.