7 Billion People Need to Go Green

Posted on Nov 4, 2011 in Sustainable Living & Sustainable Lifestyle by Matthew Speer 2 Comments

If you missed the news let me catch you up, the Earth now has over 7 billion people roaming around its expansive lands. A milestone that is difficult to grasp, the sheer number is overwhelming to many. I have read news that hypes doomsday fears and even discussions of population control concepts. Let’s review some of the facts before we jump off the deep end, mother earth has some pretty great tricks up her sleeve to help us survive.

Should We Panic About Hitting 7 Billion People?

Should the world panic and start hoarding supplies and food for the pending doom? Of course not, however that type of spending could spur the economy, though that is a topic for another day. In an article on WBST-TV Richard Measell, an Assistant Professor of Economics at St. Mary’s College indicated that “despite the fact that we’ve had a growing world population, people on average have been better off.” He goes on to discuss how human ingenuity will find a way to provide for the future. This is an excellent example of sustainable living and the associated concepts at their best, we will adapt.

With 7 billion people, we as a human race should be able to finally conquer the challenge of generating all of our energy from renewable means. Renewable energy is simply energy that comes from natural resources such as solar power, wind power, or geothermal heat – basically any energy source that replenishes itself naturally. Shockingly only 16% of the world’s energy is produced using renewable sources, the rest is from more traditional means such as fossil fuel burning and nuclear power. With so many people demanding clean air, the burning of fossil fuels needs to become ancient history and I have never heard of a wind turbine or solar panel producing a radioactive meltdown. I am obviously biased towards sustainable energy and hopefully some of those 7 billion will choose a career in sustainability and figure out how to make renewable energy more mainstream.

There are of course numerous other areas of sustainable living that we should consider such as responsible food production, environmental building design as described by LEED and recycling initiatives to stop our single use mentality. As the population surpasses 7 billion, change will come not because some of us want it, it will be because we all need it. Hopefully we will learn this lesson in time and work towards a sustainable earth.