Population Growth and the Future

According to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Affairs department

The world’s population is currently estimated to be 7.3 billion, and by the year 2030, it is expected to surpass 8.5 billion. The population is projected to increase by 1.2 billion people by 2050. (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). From the perspective of the movie The Age of Stupid, these forecasted figures are cause for concern. Future populations will be so large that depending on technology to preserve them is a mistake since there is a chance that technology-driven conflicts would break out over scarce resources. This paper will critically examine the opinions of foreseeable future as the population grows and technology appearing as alternatives.

Population Growth and Its Anticipated Ramifications

In the TED conversations, International Health professor, Hans Rosling, appeared to agree with the UN projected statistic of around 9 billion world population growth by 2050. However, he is much concerned about the repercussion of the growth to the environment. Already, with the current population, the world is struggling with the risk of severe climate change as a result of emissions of carbon dioxide gases from fossil fuels (Rosling, n.d.).

The Age of Stupid seems to confirm the sentiments of Hans Rosling on climatic changes due to unconsciousness of the growing world population. The movie considers global warming as an established fact and goes on to explore its consequences. It illustrates this through extreme weather phenomena like the hurricane Katrina and diminishing glaciers in European mountains (Holden, n.d.). Unfortunately, the leaders shy away from addressing the real issues pertaining global warming. In fact, they hail the economic activities which see more carbon emissions. For instance, in India, an investor ventures into a new business of airline which is considered as the greatest contributor to carbon emissions (Holden, n.d.). This is seen as an economic opportunity rather than a danger to climate change. The movie also projected increased conflicts between societies because of the limited resources. Technologies which are expected to fix the natural resources problem in the future will be instead used to cause more problems.

The Solutions to the Climate Change in the Future

Technology has proved to be a critical facet in various fields. When it is used to effectively, it can yield positive outcomes. Since population growth is inevitable as observed by Rosling (n.d.), there will be a need to use available resources like technology to solve a foreseeable climate problem. For instance, Lovins (n.d.) recommended the introduction of an efficient electric system that will revolutionize the transport and industrial sector by eliminating the dependence on fuel energy system that is considered inefficient. By 2050, there should be modern vehicles run by electricity rather than fuel energy.

Clay’s (n.d.) thought of the solution to the problem in terms of market motivations among the big global companies. These firms should be urged to think about their methods of production and be encouraged to stick to sustainable practices. Since global firms would still want to produce even in the future, they are willing to change their unsustainable behaviors for the better of the future.

Conclusion

The rate of world population growth cannot be reduced in any way. Therefore, the only option is to find ways through which the projected negative outcomes of the growth, especially climatic change can be dealt with. The possible solutions suggested, include reduction of fuel energy consumptions through the introduction of an efficient electric system and motivating global firms to stick to sustainable solutions.

Works Cited

Clay, Jason. “How Big Brands can Help Save Biodiversity.” TED Talks, (2010). Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jason_clay_how_big_brands_can_save_biodiversity

Holden, Stephen. An Alarm From 2055: Act Now to Save the Earth: Movie Review – ”The Age of Stupid.” The New York Times, (2009).

Lovins, Amory. ”A 40-Year Plan for Energy.” TED Talks, (2012). Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/amory_lovins_a_50_year_plan_for_energy#t-140555

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World Population Projected to Reach 9.7 Billion by 2050. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/2015-report.html

Rosling, Hans. ”Global Population Growth, Box by Box.” TED Talks, (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth/transcript?langua ge=en