Regular visitors to this corner of the blogosphere know that from time to time I like to consider numbers. Some of you are possibly yawning already - "Oh no! Here he goes again!"
Okay. I don't wish to detain you for very long so let's go.
First of all - the population of our planet. Back on February 4th the total population was 7,762,009,632. Today, four months later, the world's population has risen to 7,789,122,032. This means that in just 120 days there are now 27,112,400 extra people. That is more than the entire population of Australia in such a short span of time. By the way, the current population of Australia is 25,499,884.
Turning now to COVID19. So far, worldwide, it has killed 389,995 people and 6,641,078 have actually contracted the disease.
As you can see, these numbers seem quite small compared with what is happening with regard to population growth.
Just before I go, here's another number to think about: 4,772,583. That's the number of people on the planet who have died of hunger this year. As Fats Domino sang, "Ain't That A Shame?" He was probably understating things.
Statistics are fine, they go up and down but they never answer the problem sadly. In answer to last blog on Zoom, one of the tricks of the trade is to put your computer on books to make it higher, then you don't have to look up someone's nose or see your own wrinkled face, though I am sure you don't have any! I hopefully will never go on Zoom because of untidy hair sadly.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any because I use Oil of Ulay.
DeleteHow long before some statistician boasts that the virus has actually killed far less than hunger? Will that be something we should be proud or grateful for?
ReplyDeletePoliticians are often clever about manipulating facts to their advantage.
DeleteIt is a rather sobering thought that when I was born the population was probably around 2.3 billion. If, and it's probably a big 'if', the population keeps expanding at this rate the planet doesn't stand a chance. I occasionally think about what my grandson will have to cope with. It doesn't bear thinking about.
ReplyDeleteGraham, the irony is (and YP has, so far, not touched on it - to my knowledge) that overpopulation appears (to my unspoilt mind) to be largely a by product of the advances we have made (science/medicine/technology/hygiene, etc etc). I dare say even as little as fifty years ago far more babies died early on, far fewer people made it through childhood or to what we, now, call "old age". It's the price we pay for being so "clever". And in line with the Hippo Oath, we have the wherewithal to "save" lives, nay prolong them beyond reason, at ALL cost. Forget the last sentence. I am now treading on dangerous ground.
DeleteHaving said that, if any of you can explain to me why the efficient contraception we now ALSO have, thanks to above advances, doesn't somewhat balance the numbers I'd be grateful. It's only anecdotal but after YP recently mentioned the subject I thought about all my female friends over the years. I mean the ones I have known since school and early adulthood. Apart from one (and like me she has one offspring only) they never had a pram in the hallway (by choice). Interesting - hadn't noticed before.
And then then are all those swathes of land (think Nordic countries alone) unpopulated.
Sometimes I think it best if we just went back to the drawing board (not least since, apparently, God made us in his image).
U
I guess we all know that there are simply too many of us around. Most, if not all of the big problems we are facing today can ultimately be tracked down to this one single cause.
ReplyDeleteAs for a solution, of course I have none. My personal solution is not to procreate and try to live relatively responsibly (for instance not having a car, no dryer, buying local and avoiding plastic packaging when possible), but I understand very well that most people can not and won't fight the urge to have children, regardless of whether I understand it or not.
It is scary, it really is.
Graham was born I believe in the late 1940's. It is indeed scary to note that the planet's population has trebled in his lifetime.
DeleteI am actually now demonstrably nearer 80 than 70. I was born in 1944 2 days before D-Day (which is, or the anniversary of which is, tomorrow.).
DeleteI hear you, YP. Please do see my comment addressed to Graham (and you). The BIG question is WHY? Why, why, why? Why is the world "over"populated (other than the rather obvious suggestion I made)? We aren't rabbits, or mice, are we? There must be something, possibly a mathematical formula, to explain WHY this is happening. Maybe it's a bit like compound interest. The interest that quite a few people appear to not understand.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to continuing my education.
U
You pose some very relevant questions Ursula. I think, as you suggest, that it is a combination of factors that has brought us to this juncture. Another "why" we might propose is: Why won't international bodies grasp the overpopulation nettle instead of wafting it away? They may not be able to halt the growth or indeed reverse it but they could slow it down.
DeleteI can't cope with all those numbers YP. You have given me a headache
ReplyDeleteHave a lie down on the chaise longue JayCee and tell Scrivener to bring you a sarsaparilla.
DeleteThat population growth figure, I assume, includes subtracting the people who have died during the same time period? In other words, that's the net gain? That's a LOT of people.
ReplyDeleteYes that is the net gain Steve. The speedometer of births rotates much more quickly than the speedometer of death.
DeleteThat does raise some uncomfortable questions, like - if starvation was more equally spread around the globe, and a threat to us all, would we be doing more about it...
ReplyDelete"Out of sight, out of mind" often seems to be the secret mantra of the developed world DT.
DeleteKeep up with the numbers. These numbers worry me.
ReplyDeleteI won't do it in every blogpost but in the not too distant future I will be back to such numbers.
DeleteTen million people die of cancer in the world every year.
ReplyDeleteA sobering thought Dave.
DeleteI hate to be negative but...too many people and you have pandemics, diseases such as cancer and more, riots, civil unrest, starvation, wars, etc. etc. How many of things such as this are the result of those numbers you keep giving us YP?
ReplyDeleteThere could easily be connections. Everybody has a carbon footprint.
Delete