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| Cilla Black (1943 - 2015) What's it all about Alfie? |
Here's a list of five countries that you will have heard of. I have put them in rank order according to their populations with Bolivia at the top and and Portugal at the bottom. The population of Bolivia is 11.6 million while the population of Portugal is 10.2 million. Hence:-
Bolivia
Cuba
Czech Republic
Greece
Portugal
Are you with me so far?
Now, do you mind terribly if we go back to February 4th of this year? On that day I announced on this humble Yorkshire blog that the population of Earth was 7,762,009,632.
Now, just 53 days later, the population of Earth stands at:-
7,773,852,630
That means that our world's population has risen by 11,842,998 in less than two months. More than the population of Bolivia or Cuba or The Czech Republic or Greece or Portugal. 11.8 million extra people. The 26,826 coronavirus death tally to date is utterly dwarfed by this population increase. It makes you think. Well, it certainly makes me think anyway.
As Cilla Black once sang, "What's it all about Alfie?"
The population of the earth brings about some challenging problems. a pandemic isn't the way to solve it.
ReplyDeleteSome epidemiologists foresee a truly devastating pandemic in the future. This one is most likely just a taste of what could happen.
DeleteEchoing Red again. He always manages to say in a dozen words what it takes me ten times that to say!
ReplyDeleteI do wonder if or when the problem of overpopulation will ever be addressed by world leaders. Right now they pretty much have their hands full, but will we see any lasting good come of this crisis? Somehow I doubt it, as much as I ache for it to be so.
I hope that one good thing that emerges will be the closure of all Asian wet markets and the establishment of stricter rules in relation to food production.
DeleteAn extremely worthy - and attainable - goal, I agree.
DeleteThere's a lorra lorra people YP.
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! Nice one Jimmy Tarbuck!
DeleteWell that's a surprise surprise.
ReplyDeleteYou walk round the screen in the middle of the set and there are 11.8 million babies! That would be a hell of a surprise Cilla!
DeleteThere is a fault on your line.
ReplyDeleteLet's leave aside maths, extrapolation and compound interest (the two latter few understand), the virus (or rather its spread) is in its infancy. Why not take a more philosophical approach to world population?
If Mother Earth burns itself out or, rather, is being burnt out by her "children" (us) so be it. That people will continue to procreate is a given. However, and that's where your argument comes slightly apart at the seams, people die all over the place. You mentioned some of the reasons in a previous post, not least the most dreadful (and avoidable) that of hunger.
I do believe that humankind (nature?) is self regulating. And, and it is a nihilistic view based on the concept of absurdity, who cares? That tree (let's assume it's still standing) when it falls will still fall whether we, precious humans, are around to hear it or not. It falls. And makes a sound.
Anyway, dear walking the land YP, if all else fails we could always go to war. Nothing more efficient than war to decimate the population. Which reminds me, and you may know and find (not so) amusing: Apparently, when there is a war in the offing, some time in the future but not tomorrow, more boys than girls will be born. Canon fodder, YP. There was a saying in the motherland, pretty graphic not to say crude, loosely translated as "Women open wide, the Fuehrer needs soldiers". Bloody hell, YP. The more children (boys) the better. My grandmother was awarded a special medal for services to the fatherland. Well, and for her efforts, her firstborn, in his early twenties, was shot dead, in the back (Russian prisoner of war) when he tried to flee the camp (after the war). Don't know what she did with that medal.
Yes, so - see above - when there is a war in the offing, some time in the distant future, more boys are born. Can you imagine my trepidation considering that my parents (between their four children) have ten grandsons and two granddaughters? Most of them now just about the right age to march and serve as, well, cannon fodder.
U
There seems to be a lot of division and anger in high places. Pressure with regard to climate change, religion, resources, priorities and population increase. You may well be right to suggest that it could all end in warfare on a scale we have not seen before. They should have listened to John and Yoko: "Give Peace a Chance!" or in the words of Lincolnshire legume farmers: "Give Peas a Chance!"
DeleteI am trying not to think too much, about anything, at the moment.
ReplyDeleteGood heavens how much wine did you have last night JayCee?
DeleteJust the usual medicinal dose
DeleteYou mean a pint tankard?
DeleteThere wouldn't be too many babies resulting from the Zoom version of Blind Date.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of it so I scurried off to find out. I suppose that sperm could be sent in vials by motorcycle courier company "Job's a Good Un".
DeleteAnd I was having a very Good Morning (apologies to Sellar and Yeatman) until I read that. Geeza break, mate.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of Cilla Black then Graham?
DeleteI understood your first comment (Mate? I am The Prophet of Doom my son.) but I'm not sure why I shouldn't be a fan of Cilla Black. I knew Priscilla White (by sight and reputation) before she became Cilla Black and frequented The Tavern. I have a great respect for her. Liverpudlians as well as Geordies say "Geeza break" just with different accents. I can only do one of them.
DeleteDidn't Yosser Hughes say that in "The Boys from the Black Stuff"?
DeleteI'm not sure who it was but someone did. It's a series I've never seen but, of course, know about. My education is l sadly lacking. They were Geordies weren't they not Mackems. I wouldn't like to get any more trolls.
DeleteThe series was set in Liverpool and was written by Alan Bleasdale. Yosser was played by Bernard Hill.
DeleteWell, well, well. I live and i learn. So what was the series set in Geordieland around that time?
Delete"Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" (That was the title. I'm not calling you pet!) The first series of this came out in 1983/84. "Boys from The Black Stuff" was older - October to November 1982.
DeleteThanks, YP. Now I remember. You see that I have a great forgettory but a less than good memory.
DeleteIt's fire, flood and pestilence, according to a friend of mine who is not at all religeous. Either that or germ warfare. Either way, it's clear that our planet cannot sustain a good quality of life (measured by the availability of food and shelter) at the current rate of expansion of the human race. Scary.
ReplyDeleteWhat show was that cool character The Fonz appeared in? Ah yes, "Happy Days"!
DeleteOK, the version of "Alfie" I know was sung by Dionne Warwick. But there were about a hundred different covers of that one song, I believe.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent illustration of our population conundrum. The coronavirus situation reminds me of a warning I read years ago, that if humans are unable to manage our own population, nature is going to do it for us -- and it isn't going to be pretty.