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<span style="font-style: italic"> Derek,
It seems that a lot of people really believe in the myth of overpopulation, but where does this myth come from and how is it so
persistent?
Well, for one, it's easy to believe when you live in a city crammed full of people stacked on top of one another. It's easy to forget that there are still wide open spaces, and plenty of them.
It's also an idea that has been crammed into our heads our entire lives, but the people doing the cramming are the same ones thathave lied to us over and over again tojustify just about anything.
Check out this animated short on the the making of a myth... </span>
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<span style="font-weight: bold">All 7 billion of us could live in Texas.</span>
Population is still technically growing, but according to the United Nation Population Division’s numbers, that growth is slowing dramatically.
The United Nations Population Division (UNPD) is the most reliable source of population statistics in the world, which is why we use their numbers for our videos. And, according to the UNPD, population growth will continue to slow down over the next few decades. In fact, if current trends persist, our growth will halt right around 8 billion by 2045. After that, our numbers will start to fall off, slowly at first, and then faster.
If you find this whole idea counterintuitive, don't worry! You're not alone. At first glance, it really does seem like population is skyrocketing. That’s because we're still adding a billion people every few decades . . . and a billion people is a lot of people. But the way we can tell that population is not ballooning out of control is precisely the fact that we’re only adding a billion people each time. And soon, we won’t even be adding that many.
It seems that a lot of people really believe in the myth of overpopulation, but where does this myth come from and how is it so
persistent?
Well, for one, it's easy to believe when you live in a city crammed full of people stacked on top of one another. It's easy to forget that there are still wide open spaces, and plenty of them.
It's also an idea that has been crammed into our heads our entire lives, but the people doing the cramming are the same ones thathave lied to us over and over again tojustify just about anything.
Check out this animated short on the the making of a myth... </span>
<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vZVOU5bfHrM"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vZVOU5bfHrM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>
<span style="font-weight: bold">All 7 billion of us could live in Texas.</span>
Population is still technically growing, but according to the United Nation Population Division’s numbers, that growth is slowing dramatically.
The United Nations Population Division (UNPD) is the most reliable source of population statistics in the world, which is why we use their numbers for our videos. And, according to the UNPD, population growth will continue to slow down over the next few decades. In fact, if current trends persist, our growth will halt right around 8 billion by 2045. After that, our numbers will start to fall off, slowly at first, and then faster.
If you find this whole idea counterintuitive, don't worry! You're not alone. At first glance, it really does seem like population is skyrocketing. That’s because we're still adding a billion people every few decades . . . and a billion people is a lot of people. But the way we can tell that population is not ballooning out of control is precisely the fact that we’re only adding a billion people each time. And soon, we won’t even be adding that many.
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