Population Crashes – what's next?

[wakeflood]

So, history shows us that for various reasons, once an organism’s density surpasses some maximum carrying point, population crashes tend to occur. That was the standard process anyway, until man introduced a couple of elements – 1. The overriding ability to artificially(?) increase the carrying capacity of a given environment (think healthcare) and 2. Elements that can artificially create crashes (think toxicity).

So, those two things can BOTH impact the human species, even though one can reasonably argue that #1 has been the most impactful to date. Is #2 waiting in the wings? Is a 1918 Spanish Flu on steroids in our near future?

What say you, thinkers of big thoughts in our pleasant suburbian burg?

I’m thinking we’re ready for some come-uppance. As they said in the 1970’s margarine commercial, from which all truly important philosophy has sprung, “it’s not nice to fool mother nature”.

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[skeeter]

I realize the human population in exploding in certain parts of the world. I attended an economic lecture a few months ago and the speaker said the human population is expected to stop growing in about 2040 or 2050. If we can somehow develop a non-destructive and sustainable energy policy perhaps we can support the eventual population for a long time? So maybe the population crash won’t happen in the next couple hundred years? (I know, famous last words.)

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[anonyme]

World population is not sustainable even at current levels. I think it’s entirely possible we’ve already passed the tipping point in population driven environmental damage. Natural resources will never increase. They are finite. I agree with Wake; some kind of reckoning is probable in the not-too-distant future.

This could take many forms, or as a perfect storm of several in concert. Viruses, as mentioned, could spread worldwide in a matter of days. GMO’s are an unknown in the environment; in combination with unsustainable and/or toxic farming practices, massive crop failures could occur. Add climate change to that, and all vegetation faces serious challenges.

The water issue is seldom discussed. There’s a reason why Big Oil has been buying up water rights worldwide for some time now. Rainwater is not “new” water; what goes up comes back down, dirtier and more toxic every time. When you think about the amount of water we use to wash feces and computer chips, it’s clear that water for drinking and watering crops is disappearing – it will not increase merely because human population does.

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