Sharing Our World
The Population Challenge
The Optimum Population Trust’s publication Youthquake states that over 3 billion people are currently under 25 and we are facing dramatic increases in global population.
The world's population is expected to grow by about another 2 billion, from 6.8 billion in 2010 to over 9 billion in 2050. The 2 billion increase from 2008 to 2050 is almost as much as the entire population of the world in 1950. According to World Population Prospects: the 2008 Revision, the projections published by the United Nations in March 2009, most of this growth will take place in the developing world. OPT has urged leaders to be "brave" on population growth.
The Population Reference Bureau estimates the world’s annual growth is at 82 million a year. We believe it is time to face up to the population issue, recognize the link between population and CO2 emissions and the need to safeguard our beautiful planet for future generations. Every week 1.58 million extra people are added to the planet - a sizeable city - with nearly 10,000 arriving each hour. We are already facing urgent environmental challenges that threaten the eco-systems, food supplies and energy resources upon which we all depend for our survival
Population and the Environment
The ability of humans to exploit resources as if they were infinite has led to increasing outputs of gases into the atmosphere, the most significant of these being carbon dioxide (CO2). This is known as a greenhouse gas because it causes the atmosphere to heat up resulting in climate change. The dramatically increased amount of carbon emissions since the industrial revolution, coupled with continuing population growth has led to a triple whammy – reducing resources, increasing demand, and a changing climate.
Many reports over the past decades (Club of Rome Report 1972, Brundtland Report 1987,Rio Summit 1992, et al) clearly indicate that the way that we are living, using energy, consuming resources cannot go on – it is literally unsustainable.
All species adapt to their environment but we have learnt to adapt the environment to our needs – but do we want a planet devoid of its beauty, its bio-diversity, its wonderful wildlife and natural places as we focus on technological fixes to the carbon issue and ignore our natural place in the web of life?
The Carbon Impact
Carbon is an intricate and essential part of life and the planet has evolved mechanisms over the eons to utilize and recycle carbon to ensure life’s continuity. Professor James Lovelock (now an OPT patron) first published his Gaia hypothesis in 1965, demonstrating the awe-inspiring nature of the planet’s capability of self-regulation –within limits.
The ability of humans to change and adapt their environment to suit their needs - using finite resources as if they were infinite - has led to increasing outputs of carbon (particularly since the industrial revolution) coupled with continuing population growth and consumerism – a triple whammy.
| YEAR | 1650 | 1750 | 1850 | 1950 | 2050 |
| Population bn | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 9.4 (est.) |
| CO2 ppm | 280 | 280 | 280 | 300 | 450 (est.) |
As the graph illustrates population growth is a major driver in greenhouse gas emissions and these emissions and population growth can be tracked virtually on a parallel course.
The Wider Impact
Even without climate change the reality is that the demands of an ever-growing world population have led to massive reductions in forests, increasing desertification and water shortages and dramatic decline in fish stocks . The ability of the planet to recycle pollution is now being overwhelmed as our waste grows in volume and toxicity.
The increasing demand for resources, land, food, energy, housing and support infrastructures has placed huge burdens on the planet. Contributing to PopOffsets not only offsets your own emissions and reduces the creation of CO2 outputs but makes a direct contribution towards solving many other environmental challenges.
What Can You Do?
By supporting PopOffsets you can help reduce CO2 emissions and help address all the environmental problems that result from unsustainable population growth. You may wish to go further and sign the ‘Stop at Two’ pledge.
Every small step we take to support initiatives like PopOffsets or change our lifestyle to reduce our own carbon footprint is a positive step towards a sustainable future for the planet we share and that we must safeguard for our children and grandchildren.
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