Horizon now, BBC2 - Anybody Else Watching it? Overpopulation/Water etc

PasturesNew

It's interesting, started at 8pm though.

Link courtesy of Revenge of the Red Devil http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27716591&postcount=43

lostinrates

No...and too late now I guess.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

No...and too late now I guess.

Well, it's still on ... for another 30 minutes.

PasturesNew

So far:
"When I was born 50 years ago there were 2 billion people in the world, now there are 7 billion" by the presenter.

And so far it's covered:
- disappearing water
- alternatives, why they won't work
- producing higher yield crops
- most water is needed for agriculture

Right now, covering the chinese and saudi arabian companies who are buying foreign land. Britain is trying to buy a few plots. Mostly these plots are in countries who are already struggling to feed their own people.

All this is only really a worry for people with kids etc .... it won't be long before the world runs out of land/food/water.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, it's still on ... for another 30 minutes.

I'll never catch up. I'm the thirsty person joining the end of a line for limited water in an overpopulated country: the last drop in always polluted.

The_White_Horse

basically, we in the west have to give give give to the third world, so they can have more and more babies, which will result in us all starving and dying of thirst.

good innit. give now, kill off your grandchildren.

PasturesNew

Oil now. Energy, fossil fuels.
85 million barrels a day, providing pesticides, mechanisation etc that has enabled us to provide enough food for the population.

PasturesNew

Productive Biocapacity of the Earth: how many people is the maximum if it were shared exactly.
2 global hectares each

UK use 5.33 global hectares each.

How many people can the Earth sustain: if we live like Indians, 15 billion; if we live like Brits then only 2.5 billion.

PasturesNew

3 ways to fix this:
- stop using so many resources
- reduce our technology
- reduce population growth, have less children

PasturesNew

China brought in its "one child" policy

India started sterilising criminals, as their punishment, but that brought down the Govt.

sjaypink

PasturesNew wrote: »

Productive Biocapacity of the Earth: how many people is the maximum if it were shared exactly.
2 global hectares each

UK use 5.33 global hectares each.

How many people can the Earth sustain: if we live like Indians, 15 billion; if we live like Brits then only 2.5 billion.

IIRC, if we live like Americans make that 1.5 billion.... 9 hectares pp.

Amazing how much we consume- big changes are needed now... scary stuff