francene--blog. Year 2013
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July 12th

7/12/2013

 
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Where do you fit in the world populated by 7 billion? After growing very slowly for most of human history, the number of people on Earth has more than doubled in the last 50 years.

Take this test to see where you fit into the human story:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515

The population increased by 407 while I added my date of birth, country, and selected female. There were only 2.50 billion people in the world when I was born (1942).

The UN estimates that if current population and consumption trends continue, by the 2030s we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us. However, births are not expected to climb so alarmingly.


Picturetusconcitizxen.com
During the sixties, when I first married at the age of 19, those of us in the so-called hippie generation of Australia gave every subject serious consideration. I decided not to bring any children into a world filled with the threat of missiles pointing at every country. When Mother Nature intervened in my plan, we moved to the country, far away from potential extermination. When no such bombings happened and the escalations simmered down, my family lived a normal life.

Most historians of modern population control trace its roots back to the Reverend Thomas Malthus, an English clergyman born in the 18th Century who believed that humans would always reproduce faster than Earth's capacity to feed them. He preached that giving succor to the resulting desperate masses would only imperil everyone else.


Pictureamericanlivewire.com
Agricultural advances in the 19th Century proved the Reverend's main premise wrong. Food production increased with the growing population. But the idea that the rich are threatened by the desperately poor has cast a long shadow into the 20th Century.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson warned that the US might be overwhelmed by desperate masses, and he made US foreign aid dependent on countries adopting family planning programs. Other wealthy countries such as Japan, Sweden and the UK also began to devote large amounts of money to reducing Third World birth rates.


Pictureasianconservatives.com
The One Child Policy is credited with preventing some 400 million births in China, and remains in place to this day. In 1983 alone, more than 16 million women and four million men were sterilized, and 14 million women received abortions.

Because of the suffering caused, the policy was relaxed to allow rural couples two children if their first was not a boy. Boy children are prized, especially in the countryside where they provide labor and care for parents in old age. But modern technology allows parents to discover the sex of the fetus, and many choose to abort if they are carrying a girl. In some regions, this causes a serious imbalance between the sexes.

The good news: Today's record-breaking global population hides a marked long-term trend towards lower birth rates, as urbanization, better health care, education and access to family planning all affect women's choices. Where they can, women will make decisions that benefit society.

And that's another story. In societies dominated by men, many women risk death by defying their husbands.


MamaRed link
7/11/2013 10:40:32 pm

Wow, what an amazing post filled with information about the journey to a population filled with many challenges, not the least of which is the continued pattern of devaluing women and girls. Even tho' we've made many strides, for which I'm grateful, there are still many places where we have a long ways to go.

Francene Stanley link
7/12/2013 03:14:51 am

The challenges of life never end. Let's hope the population slows down in time to allow personal growth between men and women.

Courtney link
7/11/2013 10:47:59 pm

What an informative post. Thank you for sharing!

Francene Stanley link
7/12/2013 03:15:27 am

Glad you appreciated it.

Kathleen link
7/12/2013 04:38:59 am

Interesting, fascinating, and sad at the same time. Some countries use horrible tactics to slow population growth. If the world continues on, space exploration now might come in handy later on.

Francene Stanley link
7/12/2013 07:31:56 pm

Good thought, Kathleen. However, I hope we take control of our own expansion.

Amy link
7/12/2013 06:57:20 am

Such a fascinating glimpse of population, Francene. The subject if world population is a troubling one, though I'm glad that the grim predictions of a few years ago have been relaxed somewhat. It's sad that the one-child policies of China are coming back now to haunt that culture, as they are struggling with not enough young people to support the growing older population.

Francene Stanley link
7/12/2013 07:40:08 pm

It seems for every solution there's a new problem.

Alana link
7/12/2013 09:55:25 am

Francene, you always dig deep into a subject. I will have to take that quiz when I have more time (right now will have out of town company for part of the weekend).

Donovan link
7/12/2013 09:20:41 pm

It is time to put all of these minds together and start creating powerful solutions for how to best share the miraculous "home" we all inhabit. Thanks for doing your part with your in-depth inquiries and posts!


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    Author

    Francene Stanley, author of many published novels. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books? You'll see them on the sidebar below.
    Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life.

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