Today, there are many problems and challenges facing the world. These include hunger, poverty, disease, loss of arable land, lack of access to safe potable water, poor sanitation and people fleeing from conflict; also devastation by rising sea levels and extreme weather resulting from climate change.
There are many caring and talented people and organizations trying to deal with these issues; Bono, Guy Laliberte, David Suzuki, Al Gore and other well-known individuals; the UN, the World Health Organization and many NGOs and charitable groups.
Difficulty in meeting these challenges is greatly increased because the primary cause of the problems, over-population, is largely being ignored.
Currently, world population grows by about 73 million per year. Thus, in only three years, the world population grows by more than 200 million, the total human population of the world at the time of Christ. Today, the world population is about 6,700 million and the pressures which this large and growing population create result in competition for food and resources and lead inevitably to conflict.
Unfortunately, many governments around the world are currently focused on citizens‘ concerns with other issues such as unemployment, economic stagnation and loss of pension income. The solution is often seen as the return to growth which has been the basis of our economic model for decades. But the need for a no-growth strategy for global population has never been more urgent. The consequences of ignoring these population issues will be devastating and render success with many other problems highly unlikely.
There is little doubt that the Earth cannot provide ongoing support for its current human population with a lifestyle which most of us would consider acceptable. Unless world leaders meet the challenges of population growth with vigour and determination, how long can it be before nature or conflict drastically reduces our numbers?
Bill Creighton
Thunder Bay
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