Comments on: What Will The World’s Population Look Like In 2025?

By: Rebecca Stecky

Rebecca Stecky — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:02:18 +0000

I’m not surprised to see Raleigh and Charlotte as some of the fastest growing cities in the country. I moved to the outskirts of Charlotte with my parents at the beginning of high school in 2002. Even then, Weddington — the town I lived in until a couple years ago — was relatively empty. During my five years there, I witnessed ungodly levels of development. Giant plots of virgin land transformed into acres of barren clay right before my eyes, as if the gods were going crazy with steamroller madness. Housing developments sprung up like hot cakes. And mind you, the houses being built aren’t all that great. They’re plagued by shoddy workmanship. All the builders care about is quantity, not quality. Integrity never made anyone any money. Most of the new Charlotte residents, like my own family, came from up north — New York, New Jersey, etc. — mainly because property is much cheaper down here. My dad sold our old, run-down Union, New Jersey, apartment for almost $400,000. That bought us a hell of a lot of square footage in comparison in Weddington.

Honestly, I’m surprised Boone, North Carolina, wasn’t mentioned in the “Fastest Growing” list. I live in Boone now for school, and this place is expanding hugely as well, mainly because of Appalachian State University’s growing popularity. The small town atmosphere is still present, but Boone natives claim that it’s nothing like it used to be.

If you ask me, I think we humans overshot our carrying capacity long ago. Think about what’s necessary to support our current population: intensive, ecologically-harmful agriculture; bigger cities; more efficient treatment of wastewater. The list goes on. More people live in poverty today than ever before. And although a lot of the blame can be placed on huge corporations (mainly agribusinesses like Monsanto, Cargill, and ADM) for taking advantage of the small guys, the overpopulation problem doesn’t help.

To roughly quote Thomas Malthus, we will know for sure that the perfect population has been achieved when every single person can have a glass of wine and a piece of meat for dinner every night.

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By: Technology Slice

Technology Slice — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:27:07 +0000

It’s funny how anyone can quote certain numbers to influence opinions.

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By: Carlo Alcos

Carlo Alcos — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:31:58 +0000

Very interesting Christine! I love that picture “worried about the future”.

Does any of this take in natural disasters? Which will surely increase as global warming gets worse, resulting in more mass deaths (e.g. tsunami, floods)?

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By: Christine Garvin

Christine Garvin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:20:55 +0000

Thanks, Hal. Glad to be of service.

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By: Hal

Hal — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:44:38 +0000

Love checking out city/country pop. stats–they rank up there with maps and geo. quizzes as my top time wasters throughout the day.

The truth about global population dynamics (i.e., it’s not an epic disaster in the making) has been out for quite some time, but if you look at pop culture it seems like the message hasn’t sunken in.

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By: Christine Garvin

Christine Garvin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:47:27 +0000

Cool, they can hang out with the 2 Americans and half a European.

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By: Turner Wright

Turner Wright — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:44:26 +0000

If the birthrate in Japan stays as low as it is, there will be 5 Japanese people by the year 3000.

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