Problem in numbers

What is the biggest problem with us humans ? The single biggest problem is numbers. The total count of this one single species, is now very close to a seven billion. That is 7,000,000,000 (to be reached by the year 2012). The number itself may not mean a lot, or take up to the top of the inhabitants list.  There are probably more flies than us in the world today.

When we first started inhabiting the earth and started walking upright on our legs, we were a small team, numbering probably in thousands (1000s). As soon as we learned to move fast on our two legs, we started moving to all corners of the world, colonizing them, adapting to the hostilities of the environment, cohabiting with other living things in the area, only to soon start preying on them. As shown in the chart below, we were only a 1,000,000,000 people until about 200 years ago.

Population Billion Milestone

Clearly something has gone completely wrong in our calculations. The problem is not that the planet, cannot handle the weight of these many more people. But it surely is not able to sustain these many people. While there are many statistics to show that resources if shared equally, there is enough of all the 7,000,000,000 of us, the truth is no where close. But i dont want to be dabble in an almost lost-cause battle for equal distribution of anything. This is simply about the 7,000,000,000 staring our face.

The realization of this hit me, when i was wondering how much better the earth would be, if we switched to using clay for our homes, instead of cement. Well, a noble thought, and may even work, but not until you apply the real numbers. So if each home measuring about 1000 sqft, requires about 16 truck loads of clay, you are looking at 112,000,000,000 (quick calculation on the side) trucks of clay to build a home for everyone, now that would create a huge hole somewhere. I know there are probably better examples, but then, thats what my poor brain conjured up. Though, the hole is not the whole problem.

So if you have any idea to save the world, simply apply the 7,000,000,000 factor to see the impact. Very soon, you will realize the real answer to the problem is the number itself. It can not be 7,000,000,000. Well i know i simply cannot wish it away, but what i mean is that this number simply has to come down. It appears it is trending down, but it will take a long time before this generations sees an results. Unless of course we build awareness and try to bring it down drastically.