The Path to a More Sustainable WorldMustafa Celebi, #5009-2374

A rapidly growing population poses a threat for the survival of human species. With the advent of vaccine and modern medicine along with rapid globalization, our survival rate has exponentially increased. This becomes a serious issue when we are thinking of the future, sustainability, reducing climate change. Both, industrialized and non-industrialized, nations play a role in the production of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as, emissions that affect the overall health of the earth. From overfishing to over-farming (both animal and crops), the human ecological footprint becomes a huge issue. From our text, Sustainable Energy: Choosing Among Options, Figure 1.5 shows the predicted trend in population growth, expected to grow to 10 billion people by 2050. This becomes problematic and can be narrowed down to two main basic reasons: food and power.

Humans are at the top of the food chain, meaning they have no real predator, which creates an issue for population control. Before we look at any aspect of sustainability, we have to first address the issue of an overpopulated earth. Though it breaks many ethics and morals, we will have to consider methods of population control, such as child limitations and/or higher adoption strategies to keep the growth of human at a minimum. This can be argued by several legal, moral, and ethical view points, but mathematically it becomes sound. The earth is said to be only able to sustain a population of 10 billion, meaning that once we reach that number, the results could be very disastrous in terms of massive extinction of different food sources (i.e. tuna), soil degradation and fresh water pollution (aquifers) through the over-usage of pesticides and fertilizers, and over-crowded unsanitary living conditions.

Having such a large population will also create even more need for energy, in which traditional sustainable methods of power production would not be able to keep up. This becomes a catch 22 scenario, where the more abundant fossil fuels, such as coal, will still stay as the major source of power production, whereas, sustainable power will be further constrained by the need for land for food production and population. It is also important to note that not every human being uses the same amount of energy, for example, someone in the United States uses 10 times the energy as a person from China. Regulatory laws will have to be instilled in order to control the amount of energy usage per person, especially when the population capacity increases past the amount of energy production capacity.

Both views presented are very broad in nature but are crucial in understanding the types of comforts, we as a human species, need to be prepared to let go if we don’t start taking action now. Unfortunately, we all feel entitled to live the life we want, and that sort of thinking is a crutch for our survival. No matter which scenario you choose to believe in, population control will happen either voluntarily or forced by necessity and energy caps will ultimately be in our future. Though grim, this view is rarely discussed and brought to light because of its immoral implications and for being against freedoms we’ve come so accustomed to.

References[1] Sustainable Energy - Choosing Among Options, Tester, J. W., E. M. Drake, M. W. Golay, M. J. Driscoll, and W. A. Peters. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780262201537.[2] Pathways to 2050 - Energy and Climate Change, WBCSD, Nov. 2005, ISBN: 2-940240-83-3[3] Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet, Martin I. Hoffert & Others, Science, New Series, Vol. 298, No. 5595 (Nov. 1, 2002), pp. 981-987