Global Warming- It’s the Population Stupid!

We equate human contributions to global warming to the industrial age of carbon consumption. And yes, there is a correlation between increased use of fossil fuels and global warming. But there is also another direct correlation- population growth.  The human population was estimated to be 1.5 billion people around 1880. Today we have 7 billion people.  The forty years from 1960 to 2000 saw a doubling of our population from 3 billion to 6 billion people. This was also the period of greatest global warming. 

 Seven billion people produce 5 trillion watt-hrs of energy. Who hasn’t sat in a crowded auditorium  and felt the heat produced by the people? Our bodies are little furnaces, burning fuel to maintain a constant temperature of 98.6 deg. The energy required to move us, feed us, and keep us warm or cool all seeps into the environment.  

So one conclusion is the planet will continue to warm up if the population continues to increase, despite all attempts to reduce warming.  Another interesting point is a warmer planet will have more land and a longer growing season that is  capable of  producing more food.  More availability of food means happier people. Happier people will grow the population. So we have this positive feedback loop accelerating global warming.

As the population continues to increase there will be more competition for land that will create conflicts of ideology that historically may have sustained a separate, but peaceful existence in the past. There will also be greater competition for natural resources. Both will be catalysts for larger, longer and more deadly  wars. Wars for control of oil have already happened. 

Ultimately, we could face a doomsday war of cataclysmic proportions. This could be a way of curbing population growth, reducing pollution, and reducing the rate of global warming. 

Another more humane, but authoritarian way to curb global warming would be to limit all families to one child. This could be done by sterilization. Over a few generations we would be back to a climate happy population of 1  billion people.  

A third, but less effective way to reduce the global warming could be deliberate negative economic growth over a long period of time.  This is death by a thousand cuts- a deliberate process of consuming less than we are capable of (consumer rationing) would create world famine and wars on a continuous basis. Alas, we will probably continue down this morbid path.

Given these choices  world sterilization doesn't sound too bad.  Wow!  Now tell me global warming isn’t a problem!