People, People, Everywhere...

This post is about a BIG question I have surrounding our large and in charge 7.5 billion people population.

I am not sure where I stand when it comes to the BIG question, I need your opinion.

Long line at the starbucks counter? Bumping elbows with strangers at the bank? What about pushing through hoards of people to sardine your way into a metros?

Five O’clock traffic, lengthy grocery cues, increase in metropolitan rent due to an increase in demand and increased job competition.

Sigh*

okay I didn’t exhaust the list but simply put, there are A LOT of us. 7.5 Billion give or take and growing!

Visit the global population site.

Watch the number spin by the second, maybe you and your friends can turn it into a drinking game.

There are so many people that in 2000, geologists stopped dead in their tracks. Looked around, and realized something BIG.

They had to rename our entire interval of geologic time because they just noticed that all these humans running around have altered the Earth’s surface a lot.

In fact, so much that future alien archaeologists will be able to clearly see the start of the Anthropocene epoch in the earth’s strata.

Like most scientific jargon, “Anthropocene” comes from the Greek meaning “age of man.”

So how will these hypothetical alien archaeologists see the age of man?

Well, according to experts, such as Will Steffen (former head of the Australian National University Climate Change Institute and Executive Director of the IGBP in 2000)

The start of the Anthropocene will be marked by, “enormous numbers of bones from humans and domesticated animals, which now make up more than 90% of the mass of all vertebrates.”

Not to mention, the evidence of enormous increases in Co2 from burning fossil fuels beginning around the Industrial revolution exponentially increasing since.

Anyway, the age of man? Some of you may be thinking, that actually sounds kind of cool like we’ve won a game and now we get a whole chunk of time named after us.

However, let’s really think about this….

7.5 Billion people, let’s ruminate over that figure for a minute. Say it out loud to yourself slowly, like you're chewing on a piece of dry salad.

Seven.

Point.

Five.

BILLION.

People.

That’s 7.5 billion hearts beating, brains processing, souls dreaming, lungs breathing, drinking, eating, and most importantly consuming.

It’s a natural phenomena, inspiring and yet a teeny terrifying.

Especially when you’re aware of two little words: finite resources.

Finite resources, according to the encyclopedia are resources concentrated or formed at a rate very much slower than their rate of consumption and so, for all practical purposes, are non-renewable.

Some everyday examples of this are:

Potable (drinkable) Water
Fossil Fuels
Fertile (farmable) Soil
Coal
All things that 7.5 billion of us put in our bellies, cars, and homes. Only nature is producing the things our lives depend on and Science is racing to catch up to support all of us but will it?

Scientists are still arguing over whether we can sustain our future populations on the resources that we have today.

Some scream yes! Others scream No!

Maybe there are two archetypes in this world (three if you count the apathetic cat).

Those who believe technology can be developed fast enough to save us from ourselves, and those who wouldn’t bet their last cigarette on it.

Here is my BIG question:

Do you think science and technology can save us from ourselves?

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