Jacksonville Florida has 23 billion square feet of land. If you gave everyone 2 square ft of space to stand on, the entire population of the Earth can fit into Jacksonville.
Really tired of the concerns of overpopulation.
With the correct infrastructure the Earth can easily sustain over fifty billion.
The area of United States of America in square feet is 103671742065706.34375.
Over 50 trillion people can stand side by side.
I’m just putting out these numbers so that people see the outrageous claims that the Earth is getting or is overpopulated.
Tell that to the countless living beings that have been driven from the face of the Earth by our massive numbers. And the many more who will follow because of our selfishness. I acknowledge that I live on land that was once home to the Florida black bear, the Florida panther, the Red Wolf, and the Carolina Parakeet, among others.
Looking at just the numbers, not that everyone can live in a two square ft space, but comparing the amount of land that is on the Earth, to people, there is no need to be overly concerned about our population.
The biggest problem is fire bombing over 100 food processing plants here in the United States over the past year, killing fertilizer production by stopping natural gas drilling. The farmers yielded one third of their crops this past growing season due to lack of fertilizer, which will cause food shortages this coming winter and spring.
This kind of stuff is going on worldwide.
It’s a planned agenda for some sick psychopaths that have no interest in other humans that aren’t in their club.
With finite resources, increasing population reduces the share of the pie for everyone. You could have more, but everyone will have less. For resource flow to increase, it will take a lot more energy. This extra energy is not available as energy flows are maxed out or close to max.
The other thing of course would be that civilization would collapse a lot sooner due to more rapid resource depletion, and pollution is already having major effects on the biosphere, which we rely on to stay alive.
You are “really tired” of overpopulation worries and throwing big numbers around, are you?
Medieval logicians could have used your comments to illustrate the “to quoque” fallacy: pretending to argue against a position by using the very technique your ridiculing, in this case throwing big numbers around. Q.E.D.
Dear friends, Can we try to be a little less anthropocentric when discussing population? It may save us in the end. Please consider that we're just one among 9 million species.
Encourage people to read 2 books. Patrick Moore's "Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom" and Matt Ridley's "How Innovation Works, and Why It Flourishes In Freedom". One deals with the ever present predictions of catastrophic events that never occur, and the other deals with the innovation that occurs and frequently is over looked by catastrophists who fail to consider the value of innovation for the purpose of human flourishing in a free society.
Such important points. Jennifer, I'm excited to see you're here on Substack and abashed that I didn't realize this earlier. I'd love to get you on my #sustainwhat webcast soon to dig deeper on the dynamics and issues you've explored here. These are questions I reported on for a long time at The New York Times and now here on Substack as well: https://revkin.substack.com/p/as-the-human-population-tops-8-billion I'll be in touch shortly!
Having just returned from an extended stay in an EU Country to the US--looking at world population through these lenses (and how country and economic policy affect country-by-country population and sustainability) is so fascinating and helpful for really understanding the world we live in. Thank you for this great intel.
Thanks for sharing the impressive skills in long division. These preternatural powers of analysis are what the world needs to solve our complex problems.
I don't have any confidence we'll ever reach 10 billion in world population. Accelerating climate change along with the dramatic increase in species extinction will lead to chaos, starvation, conflict, violence and the deaths of countless millions.
Jacksonville Florida has 23 billion square feet of land. If you gave everyone 2 square ft of space to stand on, the entire population of the Earth can fit into Jacksonville.
Really tired of the concerns of overpopulation.
With the correct infrastructure the Earth can easily sustain over fifty billion.
The area of United States of America in square feet is 103671742065706.34375.
Over 50 trillion people can stand side by side.
I’m just putting out these numbers so that people see the outrageous claims that the Earth is getting or is overpopulated.
Tell that to the countless living beings that have been driven from the face of the Earth by our massive numbers. And the many more who will follow because of our selfishness. I acknowledge that I live on land that was once home to the Florida black bear, the Florida panther, the Red Wolf, and the Carolina Parakeet, among others.
https://scaledown.substack.com/p/falling-birds
Unfortunately, people use much more than two square feet to live. Overconsumption (food, oil, water) is really the problem due to too many people.
Looking at just the numbers, not that everyone can live in a two square ft space, but comparing the amount of land that is on the Earth, to people, there is no need to be overly concerned about our population.
The biggest problem is fire bombing over 100 food processing plants here in the United States over the past year, killing fertilizer production by stopping natural gas drilling. The farmers yielded one third of their crops this past growing season due to lack of fertilizer, which will cause food shortages this coming winter and spring.
This kind of stuff is going on worldwide.
It’s a planned agenda for some sick psychopaths that have no interest in other humans that aren’t in their club.
Try organic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers burn the life out of the soil. We may have to all become farmers. Maybe the only jobs left.
With finite resources, increasing population reduces the share of the pie for everyone. You could have more, but everyone will have less. For resource flow to increase, it will take a lot more energy. This extra energy is not available as energy flows are maxed out or close to max.
The other thing of course would be that civilization would collapse a lot sooner due to more rapid resource depletion, and pollution is already having major effects on the biosphere, which we rely on to stay alive.
Other commenters here make important points.
Read the abstract here for more detail: https://mahb.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/yale-publication-1.pdf
chance of happening. zero
You are “really tired” of overpopulation worries and throwing big numbers around, are you?
Medieval logicians could have used your comments to illustrate the “to quoque” fallacy: pretending to argue against a position by using the very technique your ridiculing, in this case throwing big numbers around. Q.E.D.
Not every square foot of the earth is productive in any useful way.
No.... but there is more than enough to sustain tens of billions.
It's not about the space, it's about the carbon emission per person.
Space is irrelevant.
And for those '50 trillion' were meat eaters, everyone wants a car, shining clothes, etc. Earth is not even inhabitable.
Dear friends, Can we try to be a little less anthropocentric when discussing population? It may save us in the end. Please consider that we're just one among 9 million species.
https://scaledown.substack.com/p/two-compelling-reasons-to-end-human
https://scaledown.substack.com/p/falling-birds
Encourage people to read 2 books. Patrick Moore's "Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom" and Matt Ridley's "How Innovation Works, and Why It Flourishes In Freedom". One deals with the ever present predictions of catastrophic events that never occur, and the other deals with the innovation that occurs and frequently is over looked by catastrophists who fail to consider the value of innovation for the purpose of human flourishing in a free society.
Well said. I am in the energy business so I frequently hear the ridicule from selfish alarmists.
Patrick Moore mentioned in my latest substack post. Tony Heller is the Big Kahuna Climate/fossil fuel link Debunker
I worry for the more than human world being able to sustain itself under the assault of human ignorance and greed.
Such important points. Jennifer, I'm excited to see you're here on Substack and abashed that I didn't realize this earlier. I'd love to get you on my #sustainwhat webcast soon to dig deeper on the dynamics and issues you've explored here. These are questions I reported on for a long time at The New York Times and now here on Substack as well: https://revkin.substack.com/p/as-the-human-population-tops-8-billion I'll be in touch shortly!
The "right government" is none. Phooey to the Malthusians. Mind your own business.
Having just returned from an extended stay in an EU Country to the US--looking at world population through these lenses (and how country and economic policy affect country-by-country population and sustainability) is so fascinating and helpful for really understanding the world we live in. Thank you for this great intel.
Perhaps of interest...... https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357430417_Human_population_activity_the_primary_factor_that_has_precipitated_a_climate_emergency_biodiversity_loss_and_environmental_pollution_on_our_watch
Interesting to hear and see the actual numbers which helps in developing an informed opinion.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367821038_A_Case_for_Limiting_Total_Food_Production_for_Human_Consumption?_sg%5B0%5D=alNGc7v5lEbc5SrAUI2_w4msqCxiwzTZDPEBYY_YA1zcittEydwYy3dqGRO_YkQlfzMTDbmsqroY7M99FcqPAG7veX0E8bN06fsYffo7.5s2Zw3nepHH21ngOwsE04V4VqCvzsqMG2Xs0hrsWLJI7jssHJQ_B2rhgOXEAzC3zilULmCwuL8gAfJDQtd16zA
Thanks for sharing the impressive skills in long division. These preternatural powers of analysis are what the world needs to solve our complex problems.
I don't have any confidence we'll ever reach 10 billion in world population. Accelerating climate change along with the dramatic increase in species extinction will lead to chaos, starvation, conflict, violence and the deaths of countless millions.