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Jake Maddox

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How can we sustain infinite growth on a finite planet?

Human population growth is a serious problem that is growing by ridiculous geometric progression. Everyday approximately 200,000 people die, and in contrast 450,000 are born. That is a staggering 250,000 new mouths to feed everyday! We cannot support infinite growth on a finite planet! We're running out of land. Thousands of square miles of rain forest are gutted every year for palm plantations to produce palm oil so that masses can be sustained. Fresh water supplies are in limited quantities. Polution and contamination abound. Why do people ignore the realities of where we're headed? It frightens the crap outta me. It appears as though the discovery of oil is when things really took off. Oil ultimately led to the internal combustion engine so that huge amounts of land could be cultivated. Pesticides and fertilizers were also made possible via oil to enhance production yields. As well as affecting the pharmeceutical industry to produce vaccines. It's not natures way.

Check out this human population growth chart: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/images/Popn_Graph2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/themes/keytheme1.htm&h=324&w=524&sz=49&tbnid=YSJSr0mYU4gonM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=124&zoom=1&usg=__kIp3FdU9ydMckYq62HCWmiEmqXc=&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2nk9UOvmL8vsigKdhIGwDg&ved=0CCUQ9QEwAQ&dur=655

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    David Hamilton 50+

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    Aug 29 2012: We move to other planets...
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      Jake Maddox

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      Aug 29 2012: I like it! Good luck with that however. Mars is really out of the question. Everyone seems to think we can live there, "Just terraform it!". There is that slight problem of no electromagnetic field that everyone seems to forget, or the 1/3 gravity. That's ok, humans can simply evolve into 8 feet tall mutants from the cosmic rays bombarding our DNA on a daily basis. Lol :-)
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        David Hamilton 50+

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        Aug 29 2012: Personally, I think we have a better chance trying to find a way to maintain life on the ocean floor, and then moving to Europa. But, don't forget, we could move to other planets, pick up resources, and then build up vertically on this planet, with another planets ore, food, oil, etc...
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          Jake Maddox

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          Aug 29 2012: Yes, I think the oceans will be the next place we colonize. I think that we will have to control birth rates though eventually. Certain demographics, in America and across the globe, continue to have children that they cannot afford. I see 10 starving children huddled around their mother on television asking for food and I think "Why is she still having children? Who would bring a child into such an existence?". It's a huge problem and I know some people will have a problem with what I said but they need to wake up and face the reality of what is happening to this planet. I'm not afraid to say what needs to be said. That's half the problem in this country anyway.
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          Mitch SMith 50+

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          Aug 30 2012: @David,

          Has anyone done the mathematics to show what happens to our planet when you increase its mass?
          I know that about 40 tons of space dust and rocks fall on us every day.
          But 40 tons per day is nowhere near the magnitude of industrial consumption.
          What happens when you increase the Earth's mass by 400,000 tons per day?
          (assuming that it's all coming from asteroids or some other planet we are junking).

          Well .. at a guess, I'd say that, for starters, the earth's rotation will slow - days will become longer .. how does that affect the weather?

          Oh, and how does that affect our orbital stability around the Sun?

          Until the math is done, we can't know whether the practice will screw us up slowly or quickly, but mining asteroids is not something I'd like to risk..
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      Lawren Jones 10+

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      Aug 29 2012: We will move off of planet Earth, but not to other planets. Space itself has all the resources we need to live, and to expand infinitely. In space, we'll live on some sort of bernal sphere or O'Neill sphere. Please read Mining the Sky by John S. Lewis and The High Frontier by Gerard K. O'Neill.
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        David Hamilton 50+

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        Aug 30 2012: I think you're both right... but if Europa, or one of the other moons with water, recieve enough radiant heat energy from nearby gas planets, or an as yet undiscovered molten center... It is possible that life is actually much easier on one of these moons, than it would be in the vaccuum of space.

        I think we could go the route Lawren describes... but I'd probably rather stay on earth if that was the case, as Myf E suggests.

        Mitch, good question, but, we could just change the composition of the mass of the earth... We could take some earth with us on our way out, to make up for what we bring back. Thus bringing soil to a planet that can use it to create life, and replacing it with precious ores we use to make gadgets and space ships. Just a thought.
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          W. Ying 10+

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          Sep 21 2012: Yes,
          Let's stay on earth.
          And can stay here happily for 100 centuries more if we just quit invalid happiness.

          It will be very difficult to go in space!
          Humans have ultra-high accuracy.
          To be adapted to space life, humans have to evolve into an animal completely different from humans.

          Is it?
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          W. Ying 10+

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          Sep 21 2012: Very good idea!


          But how can we adapt to the non-earth environment?
          Will that need us to evolve into a kind of animal that is entirely different from human beings?

          I think the easiest way is to quit invalid happiness.

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