I remember studying this chart in biology classes in secondary school, how bacteria in a nutrient rich test tube will explode in population but the growth phase will taper off and eventually a mass die off will ensue because all the nutrients would have been used up and toxic waste would have built up to a lethal level in a limited environment.


Aren't we humans in the same situation? Only on a grander scale? Our earth resources are limited, and our population is growing like crazy.
Right now, we are all in the growth phase, being happy and feeling rich with all the seemingly unlimited products and services we are able to buy.
It may or may not be in our lifetime that a catastrophic mass die off of humans will happen but the signs are all there to show us we are trashing our environment like there is no tomorow. We are definately trading our species future for the economic success we are having now.

Today's star
Fouling our world
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?...6&sec=lifefocus

Where your plastic waste are ending up...
Digging into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/digging...-143049093.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch


It's a dilemma for all of us. We all want to be successful. We(or at least, a lot of us) want to have children to have a happy family. Governments want to have economic growth. We all want better products and better services. We build and build, make and make.
In the end, the more consumption we have, the more guilty we are, actually, at destroying our natural world.
We, as consumers of products and services, are actually the pay masters of all the forest clearing, logging and digging to build more and more roads, houses, malls, factories, airports, sports arenas etc etc to satisfy our unending desires.

At the most fundamental level, it seems the best way to prevent future destruction to our environment is to stop breeding like mad. And to reduce consumption. Yet, governments, as well as practically everybody, will not want that to happen because that would mean a recession because growth itself supports tons of industries.

It seems we, as humans, have no choice but to drive ourselves eventually to an inevitable end.

Discuss.

This post has been edited by diversenature: Jun 12 2012, 12:12 PM

Bluefin tuna in danger of extinction - 5 Sep 09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3PxxWc8zHA

Log-jammed river disaster unfolding in Sarawak -- Now in Sibu !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zi8eDj2Sxk

Humans will be the cause of the sixth mass extinction.....
http://www.livescience.com/13038-humans-ca...extinction.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...te-75-life.html

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expedi...time-traveller/
"In 500 years we will wish we had time machines to come back to 2012. We will look at the early third millennium as the last days of the Garden of Eden, the last days when biodiversity was largely intact. In 500 years, we may very well find ourselves in a post-biodiversity world. Intense rainforests, vibrant deserts, and bustling coral reefs will probably seem as distant to us as big dinosaurs are today."
Wayne Maddison - biologist who studies the diversity and evolution of jumping spiders.

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Added on June 12, 2012, 11:22 amNot at this point in time.

Yes, with technology we are able to harvest resources from places far away... that's why while we are having more products at our disposal, another part of a forest which is out of our sight is being cleared to the groud, killing all plants and animals.

We are killing our environment which we are dependent on.

Wheather we are able to expand to other planets is just a guess... we may or may not. To me, it seems more plausible that we start living on floating cities on the sea before trying to live in another planet.

This post has been edited by diversenature: Jun 12 2012, 11:45 AM

Yes, it is precisely our ability to MOVE material, humans, money, information etc etc in great quantities due to our technological advances that is rapidly causing the destruction of our natural environment.

Whatever we individually do to maintain our environment, the core problem still lies in our growing population.
Shouldn't everybody in this world be discourage from having too many children?
Why do we have to keep increasing our population? Isn't 7 billion of humans on this earth enough to ensure the survival of the humans species and genetic diversity? Afterall the purpose of a species having lots of offspring is to ensure that the species doesn't die out and propagate. Isn't 7 billion humans enough?

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Added on June 13, 2012, 2:49 amYeah, this is the core of the problem.
Every government in the world wants growth, growth, growth.
I think it is time that all humans should frown upon couples who have more than 3 children because they are the ones most guilty of causing overpopulation.

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Added on June 13, 2012, 3:01 amThere is a limit to earth resources. That's why now Singapore have to import sand and water whereas in 100 years ago they didn't need too. That's why we have to go further and further in remote places to harvest resources and dig deeper and deeper for oil. What if these far away places eventually run out too?

As I mentioned, we don't really feel the effects now because technically we still have a lot of places on earth we have yet to exploit but all humans should have the wisdom to see where we are going.

The problem basically lies in our selfish selves.
In everyone's mind, we think, "Ah...I'll most probably be dead(maybe many times over) before we run out of resources, so who cares? Let the future generations deal with that. In the meantime, we indulge in our seemingly unlimited wealth."

Remember Micheal Jackson's Earth song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU

This post has been edited by diversenature: Jun 13 2012, 03:13 AM

If got time and if you like to understand deeper into things, can watch this video... talks about how our population growth will affect our consumption of resources.

The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See (part 1 of 8)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

Don't need to be that extreme gua...

Governments should have policies to discourage large families.

Elite? Who are they?

If everyone is thrifty, certainly the net effect will be significant in terms of resource comsumption and also waste production... but it will also mean economic depression or recession.
i don't buy your stuff and u don't buy my stuff... no point in making more stuff...

It is strange... on a personal side, last time i favour progress because out comes all the wonderful things man can make and build, and frown upon those who do not work hard and too laid back... but as i open my mind to more views and what is happening around us... the phrase "progress is a double edge sword" becomes very real to me.
The laid back simple people/communities, the sleepy small towns, the "non-progressive" indigenious people who still lives in the jungles somehow now gain a new kind of respect from me... their lifestyles are actually the sustainable ways that will not eventually trash up the rest of nature.

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Added on June 16, 2012, 2:22 amWow, thanks sidi_san for the links and graphs. Very insightful. The reasons behind overall population growth and reduction is very true. Religions are partly to be blamed for big families.

This post has been edited by diversenature: Jun 16 2012, 02:22 AM

It somehow irks me to read articles in newspaper about going green, saving the environment, recycling, doing this doing that etc etc but doesn't talk about the growing world population.... WHY?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90418075752.htm
Worst Environmental Problem?.....
“Overpopulation is the ONLY problem,” said Dr. Charles A. Hall, a systems ecologist.

This post has been edited by diversenature: Jun 16 2012, 02:33 AM

Actually I am not worrying. As I mentioned I myself do think that any incoming destruction won't be in my lifetime or even in many of my downline generations...
but this discussion is just for awareness so that humans now can have the foresight and wisdom to realize how our current actions can affect our future generations.
But I know.... selfishness almost always will rule in the end....until an inevitable blowback occurs.
The sins of the father......

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Added on October 1, 2012, 4:40 amthe reason the need for governments are precisely because of the "don't care attitude" of individuals. Individuals mostly only see within their confines of their views and do not take into consideration that impact of their individual actions on the group/population as a whole or their environment.

But yes the environment does matter to us.

That is why if more humans understand the population problem, hopefully that will impact their decision on the number of children to have.

This post has been edited by diversenature: Oct 1 2012, 04:40 AM