e state of the world

Last week, we talked about the 2022 report that said the world is on a trajectory to increase carbon and other emissions by 10% in 2030.

As part of our thinking about what humans have done to cause warming of the earth, and the results it will have on humans, we should also consider the catastrophic results of human actions in causing confluent, adverse events in the natural world.

The world’s human population in the year A.D. 1, was about 200 million. By 1500 it was 461 million. By 1800 it had grown to 1 billion.

In November 2022, the world’s population reached 8 billion — an incredible, 800% growth in only 223 years. The world population is forecast to grow to 11 billion by 2100, when it is expected to plateau.

Humans, driven by an accelerated population growth of 800%, sought and acquired vast areas of land to live on, grow crops, hunt game, raise cattle, mine for minerals, and dig for water and for oil. They massively destroyed forests, water sources and natural growth in the process. With the Industrial Revolution, followed by the technology revolution, over this 223-year time period, the confluences of population growth and industrial revolution emerged and jointly destroyed more habitats and ecosystems across the world, resulting in the wiping out of nearly 70% of the world’s wildlife. In parallel, they caused global warming that now threatens the planet.