What Every Citizen Should KnowAbout Our Planet

Part OneNumeric and Demographic Literacy

Copyright 2009, Randolph Femmer.All rights reserved.

Each day there are approximately births

During the same 24 hours, there are approximately deaths

BIRTHS MINUS DEATHS

356 000

154 000

www.census.gov www.esa.un.org/unpp www.prb.org

Viewers can update these figures by visiting

Notice that there are approximately

NET DAILY INCREASE

200 000

births each day

extra

356 000 minus 154 000 equals 202 000

RATE OF INCREASE

8 000

persons inhabiting our planet each hour

extra

Notice that this amounts to

approximately

ONE BILLION

persons to our planet every twelve to fifteen years

extra

At these rates of growth,we add approximately

NUMERIC LITERACY

as simplyvery large numbers

Million

It is easy to think of a

and a Billion

different

enormously

But in reality, they are

A RIDDLE

homework questionsat a rate of

MillionHow long would it take to complete one

100 questions per night, five nights per week 52 weeks per year

to finish such an assignment

38 ½ years

Answer: It would take

A SECOND RIDDLE

homework questions

Billion

How long would it take to complete one

working at the same rate?

38, 461 years

To complete one billion such questions would require

Answer:

20,000

This means that if a student began working on this assignment

years ago

When ice was one mile thickover

Ohio

Michigan

Wisconsin and

When

Wooly mammoths

Saber - toothed tigers

and

still roamed theearth

And each and every homework question was conscientiously completed

20 000 years

from then until now

for all

The student would have to CONTINUE working on their homework

18 461 years into the future

for ANOTHER

in order to finish their assignment

That is how many

additional

people we are adding to our planet

everytwelve to fifteen

years

No wonder earth’s environmental andbiological machinery is breaking

Notice that a billion is an

enormousnumber

We should not be surprised if such enormous numbers

have potentially-disastrous

humanitarian,civilizational,

and

biospheric

implications

While our population would remain stable

if births and deaths were equal

At today’s rates, we add

additional people to our planetevery twelve to fifteen years

One billion

WE MUST PROVIDE

Food Health care Housing Roads Education Employment

EVERY 12 - 15 YEARS

Sanitation Drinking water and a host of Other necessities

And this is without yet raising the issues of all the environmental damage that we inflict

IF TODAY IS FRIDAY

by this same time on MondayEarth will be home to

For example,

additional people

600 000

Hopefully, someone, somewhere

is planning to growa LOT of extra food over the weekend

IF TODAY IS MONDAY

by this same time on FridayEarth will be home to

Similarly,

additional people

800 000

Necessitating completion of more than

additional classrooms bythis same time on Friday

Math footnote: Assuming that all “replacement” children can be accommodated by existing classrooms, then 800,000 additional children divided by 25 students per classroom necessitates completion of more than 32,000 additional classrooms by this same time on Friday.

32 000

CIVLIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

What if not enough jobs are available? What if not enough schools and

classrooms are built? What if no electricity and firewood are available?

What if young men ages 15 – 30 have little schooling, no skills, and no jobs?

CIVLIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

It took about one-hundred years (1850 to 1950)for the populations of the United States and

Europe to approximately double

Today, the populations of many ofthe world’s poorest countries have been

doubling every three decades or less

CIVLIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

Even a rich country would find it nearly impossibleto repeatedly double all of its schools, services, health care,and infrastructure in repeated spans of two or three decades

and some have QUADRUPLED

in less than fifty years

If the world’s poorest nations were working with stable populations,their chances of improving standards of living would be greatly enhanced

THIS IS HOW MUCH WEARE GROWING

Recall that a billion isa very, very large number

THIS IS HOW MUCH WEARE GROWING

Notice that it tookALL of human history

until 1930 forus to reach

Two billion

THIS IS HOW MUCH WEARE GROWING

And now, just since 1930 we have added

additional personsto our planet

Five billion

in less than one human lifetime

5

1930 – 1960:Two billion grew to three billion

1960 – 1975:Three billion grew to four billion

1975 – 1987:Four billion grew to five billion

1987 – 1999:Five billion grew to six billion

And our

7th 8th and 9th billions

are all on-track to arrivebetween now and mid-century

No human beings in history have ever livedthrough such a demographic onslaught

BIOSPHERIC CALAMITY

Throughout history, we have always been able to counton the functioning of earth’s natural systems as a given

Today, however, our population has already becomeso large, and continues to grow larger so rapidly

that such PRESUMPTIONSare no longer warranted

A continuation of today’s demographic tidal wave may constitute the greatest single risk that our species has ever undertaken

For further information, see our book Wecskaop and/or other PowerPoints and PDFs in this series

This PowerPoint features excerpts from

Anson, A. 2008. What Every Citizen Should Know About Our Planet.Used with permission.

This PowerPoint features excerpts from

Anson, A. 2008. What Every Citizen Should Know About Our Planet.

For information on thebook version of Wecskaopcall 386-673-5576

End of slide show.