POP CHANGE
The rate at which the population of Earth is increasing is everyone's concern.
We may sit by and insist that it is the over-populated areas of the world which need to start doing something to control the number - not us.
There are more or less six billion people now occupying this rather small planet. We have become somewhat used to that term “billions” here in our section; you don't need to worry until you start talking in “trillions” and we have reached that state in our debt retirement arrangements. But, six billion is quite a sizable group of people, especially when we realize it is not static but multiplying all the time as a we sit here talking about - even for a few minutes.
The implications of such growth on our future is becoming more evident by the moment. Any child born at any place on this Earth occupies an expanded portion of the space available. We are unwilling victims, even now, as ever-increasing throngs of excess people from the Latin American nations, in particular, migrate to our borders in ever-increasing numbers to become either legal or illegal citizens.
We are very much concerned - like it or not.
Can Earth feed more than six billion people? That physical aspect comes quickly to mind with church groups, and other charity organizations we have expected to deal with such problems in the past. The rations, of some sort, will be there in an abstract form, of course. That is a minor portion of the real problem which will face our children. Each of us will have less, of course.
There is a host of other concerns than food to sustain the increased numbers of people. Every aspect of our various levels of culture will be mutated by the mere pressure of such numbers, and, if you feel the nations of the world have trouble getting along today you may have a hint of what it could become when restraint is not present among us. Competing among themselves for bare necessities can turn civilized men into barbarians of the worst order. In managing an over-populated world, the worst is yet to be..
We can wait no longer! It is, quite likely, past time for the United Nations and individual states around the world to pay strict attention plans to control the growth of world populations. We need detailed studies compiled in mutually close, honest and upright co-operation with the China, India and others.
We cannot continue to set and re-set vague dates for undertaking such survival studies. Even now may be too late.
A. L. M. September 6, 2003 [c424wds]
