# 7 Billion by the end of 2011 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886 "2010-12-30T23:06:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/1 "2010-12-30T23:06:55Z")
Neither mundane or pointless: [7 Billion](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0&feature=player_embedded) 3 minute video by National Geographic Magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/2 "2010-12-30T23:30:44Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Neither mundane or pointless: > [7 Billion](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0&feature=player_embedded) > > 3 minute video by National Geographic Magazine. But really vague… 7 billion what? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/3 "2010-12-30T23:33:25Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > But really vague… 7 billion what? Since it’s NG Magazine, pendulous boobies. d&r ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/4 "2010-12-31T00:41:59Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > But really vague… 7 billion what? Sorry, for some reason I thought it would be obvious: People! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/5 "2010-12-31T00:46:49Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Sorry, for some reason I thought it would be obvious: People! Okay. And? ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/6 "2010-12-31T06:04:00Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Okay. And? I am sorry, I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it. Again, I am sorry I seem to have made a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/7 "2010-12-31T06:11:27Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > But really vague… 7 billion what? Hamburgers served, of course. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/8 "2010-12-31T06:14:50Z")
I mean, I guess there are some interesting tidbits in there, but it’s not like anyone’s surprised that there are 7bn people on this planet now. and if the goal of this was to present it as a problem, then I guess I’d have to ask what they propose to do about it? ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/9 "2010-12-31T06:38:07Z")
Great video. Interesting and a little scary. I don’t get the comments above, by the way. Quite obviously, the point was to get us to think about population growth, rate of growth, use of natural resources, and related issues. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/10 "2010-12-31T06:43:22Z")
> [@](#): > > the point was to get us to think about population growth, rate of growth, _and do what about it?_ I mean, I don’t have kids, likely never will, so… OK, I’m thinking about it. Is being sad going to be enough for me to have done my part? there’s no shortage of people pointing out problems and “raising awareness.” There’s a real shortage of people with solutions. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/11 "2010-12-31T07:04:56Z")
I liked the video, on the same theme [here](http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/12/2000vs2010.jpg) is an infographic showing various changes between 2000 and 2010. The change in power consumption in China is alarming though it baffles me why they chose to use different units of measurement of Chinese power consumption vs American. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/12 "2010-12-31T07:17:28Z")
Huh. I thought we hit 7B a few years ago. Or has it gone down, from 7.3B to 7B or something? ---
**Author:** ![IaMoDiNaRy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IaMoDiNaRy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IaMoDiNaRy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/13 "2010-12-31T07:22:11Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > I am sorry, I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it. > Again, I am sorry I seem to have made a mistake. Hey Foggy! PLEASE don’t apologize to anybody for posting this! It’s a great story. Saw this on the front cover of the National Geographic magazine and thought it was very interesting, indeed. Sadly, so many of those 7 billion will miss the point of the series as proven by previous comments. Some people just don’t care about the impact of the population growth on the planet. I think the NG series will be interesting to keep up with. Thanks, Foggy. FYI - the video has had almost 51,000 views on Youtube in 3 days so it looks like quite a few people share your interest. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/14 "2010-12-31T10:58:25Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > I am sorry, I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it. > Again, I am sorry I seem to have made a mistake. You thought it was interesting; but not interesting enough to make the effort to quote \*any \*of the article to let us know why we should click on the link - despite being nudged in that direction… No attempt at discussion on \*why \*this is interesting - despite being nudged in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/15 "2010-12-31T11:17:41Z")
> [@IaMoDiNaRy](#): > > Hey Foggy! PLEASE don’t apologize to anybody for posting this! It’s a great story. Saw this on the front cover of the National Geographic magazine and thought it was very interesting, indeed. Sadly, so many of those 7 billion will miss the point of the series as proven by previous comments. Some people just don’t care about the impact of the population growth on the planet. I think the NG series will be interesting to keep up with. It’s interesting, but what about all those scientists who think the Earth can sustain over 10 billion people? > **[Overpopulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation#Carrying_capacity)** > > Overpopulation or overabundance is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migration, leading to an overabundant species and other animals in the ecosystem competing for food, space, and resources. The animals in an overpopulated area may then be forced to migrate to areas not typically inhabited, or die off without access to necessa... ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/16 "2011-01-01T10:02:34Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > You thought it was interesting; but not interesting enough to make the effort to quote \*any \*of the article to let us know why we should click on the link - despite being nudged in that direction… > > No attempt at discussion on \*why \*this is interesting - despite being nudged in that direction. Well, that’s what you get for nudging rather than being clear. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/17 "2011-01-01T10:29:45Z")
What would a world with a trillion people look like though? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/18 "2011-01-01T10:39:43Z")
[Surface area of the Earth](http://www.universetoday.com/25756/surface-area-of-the-earth/) Total surface area of the Earth(water and land) is 510 million sq. km.= 1,960.8 people per sq. km. Land only (149 sq. km.) =6741.4 per sq. km ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/19 "2011-01-01T17:15:27Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > _and do what about it?_ I mean, I don’t have kids, likely never will, so… OK, I’m thinking about it. Is being sad going to be enough for me to have done my part? > there’s no shortage of people pointing out problems and “raising awareness.” There’s a real shortage of people with solutions. Off the top of my head, I can think of a lot of possible solutions: -Colonizing the moon -Reducing the western standard of living to something more sustainable -Finding different ways to grow food and power cars so that we can use what we have more efficiently -One child policies -Forced sterilization -Letting nature take its course and allowing people to die off as resources become scarce. -Engineering a highly deadly, very easily transmitted disease that only a chosen number of people have been vaccinated against in order to thin the herd I think the idea is that we should be discussing this problem to try to find ways to enact solutions that are feasible and morally acceptable. If we ignore it, the odds are much more likely that we’ll wind up with a solution a lot of people won’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886/20 "2011-01-01T17:53:23Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > Off the top of my head, I can think of a lot of possible solutions: > -Colonizing the moon > -Reducing the western standard of living to something more sustainable > -Finding different ways to grow food and power cars so that we can use what we have more efficiently > -One child policies > -Forced sterilization > -Letting nature take its course and allowing people to die off as resources become scarce. > -Engineering a highly deadly, very easily transmitted disease that only a chosen number of people have been vaccinated against in order to thin the herd. So the solutions are either a very clear “have/have not” divide regarding the ability to have a child or mass slaughter (and of course the moon thing). And you wonder why people are against solutions to the population bomb? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-billion-by-the-end-of-2011/565886.md?page=2)