World Is Fast Approaching the 7 Billion Mark

When I was a young man one of the big problems being discussed was worldwide overpopulation. It was postulated that the humans inhabiting this planet this planet were were increasing their population at an ever faster growing rate, and there would soon be too many people for the limited resources available. But somehow this idea got put on the back-burner a few years ago, and you seldom hear it discussed these days (because the "news" is more worried about such earth-shattering  things like what celebrity couple is breaking up this week).

That was a mistake. In about a month (sometime in October) the world's population will top 7 billion people. That's an incredible figure. But it gets worse, since it is now expected to rise to at least 10 billion people sometime this century.

That brings up a very valid question. How is the world going to feed that many people? There's not going to be an increase in land on which to produce food. In fact, thanks to global climate change (which is real in spite of what the right-wing wants to believe) there is likely to be less land (and water). Considering that we are already having problems feeding the world's population, through either inability or unwillingness, we can expect the number of starving people to increase as the population does.

It has been said recently (even by our own military) that with the world fast approaching peak oil, there may soon be wars between countries over that dwindling resource. Frankly, the food wars might be even more devastating than the oil wars. We could get off our butts and find ways to exploit alternate forms of energy, but can we increase grain production by 70% by the year 2050. That is what is expected to be needed by that year (and would entail producing over a billion more bushels than is currently being produced from the same amount or less land).

I know many on the right see more desperate people willing to work for low wages as a good thing. It means more profits in corporate pockets. But that is a short-sighted view and can only have a bad outcome. People will not quietly allow their families to starve to death (and they will not willingly work for a wage that will not adequately feed their families). When it is just a few people they may result to criminal activity (such as stealing), but as the numbers grow they will approach the gates of the wealthy owners and rulers with torches and pitchforks -- and AK-47s (which have become plentiful all over the world).

We may not realize it, but we are already seeing some of this start to happen. I'm talking about the so-called "Arab Spring". Those of us in the West are deluding ourselves. We want to believe that this is little more than a cry for freedom from oppressed people. That is only partly true. Those people are not just rebelling for some idea of freedom. They willingly lived under dictatorships for many years -- as long as they could still make a decent living for their families.

What really kicked off those rebellions was the lack of decent jobs -- or even jobs at all. Democracy, if that's what they wind up with, is just a nice benefit they might get through the rebelling, but the rebelling is really over the ability (or inability) of large numbers of people to be able to decently feed and clothe their families. Rebellion becomes an attractive option when people are desperate and cannot see a future for themselves and their families.

We have not reached that point here in America or in most of the developed Western nations. But make no mistake, we could get there if we allow the economies in these countries to keep sliding downhill. And this is not going to be fixed by giving the rich an ever larger share of the total wealth, especially in light of the growing population worldwide.

Allowing the few to be extremely wealthy while millions and millions are starving and unable to decently provide for their families is simply not going to go on working for much longer. We have a choice, and it's not one the corporate right-wingers are going to like. In the few years remaining before the coming troubles, we can either get together and develop ways to share the wealth available or we go down the tubes. It may not happen in this generation, but it's not very far down the road. And believe me, walls cannot be built high enough to keep out the hordes of staving poor.

The Earth will go on spinning in space. This planet has survived many disasters in the past, and in the grand scale of things this human infestation is a fairly small thing. The question is, are humans smart enough to survive their own greed and selfishness? Frankly, I'm not at all sure they are (but I hope I'm wrong).