0-10 Billion Project
By: Kishan Desai
The Progression
Once the population of the human species reaches 10 billion there will many changes including economic, political, and social changes. When the population reaches to that many people humans will have to change how they live. Humans will have to change there home to a different location which has not yet been developed, but will have to expect that area to develop soon. For example, many people today don't live in a forest area but later humans will have to cut the forest down and live there because the lack of space. Countryside locations will also become heavily populated due to the same reason, lack of space. Even places with no good weather like Wyoming, because if people lived in the same area there will be overcrowding and numerous other problems like pandemics, lack of food, and too much pollution. Later on after the 10 billion people event there could be a dust bowl. The reason for that is because more food will be needed and to do that people will over farm the soil and a dust bowl will occur similarly to the one in the 1930s. Not only that but there will also be a lot of pollution in the air since the use of factories and automobiles will be increased. Since there will be overcrowding diseases will spread easily making many humans die which will be a good thing at that time. Since the human carrying capacity is around 9-10 billion people will start dying because of the lack of resources which then will make the population level out to a point where there are the maximum number of people who can be supported by the environment.
Effect of Resources
Resources will be scarce when the population comes to ten billion people. Resources will have to thought in a whole new way. Right now there is a lot of food waste and when the human population reaches ten billion people the amount of food wasted will have to significantly lowered. If that happens that could help a ton. Many other changes to resources will have to be made like decreasing the amount of water used. If we face water shortages today think what will happen with ten billion people. Farmers will have to find new techniques to effectively grow crops without using much water. We will need to also find a way to get rid of resources or they will just start pilling up and that will ruin our Earth.
Effect on non-human Species
Humans are the dominant species on Earth. Meaning changes in our life effect many other species. Particularly if our world population increases to ten billion people all the animals would decrease in population and the amount of different species will decrease. As we develop new places we are destroying animals homes. Also we will be changing the food chain, because we might need more fish than before changing the aquatic food chain. On land we may need more beef changing the number of cows, or even for using for material like leather. With so many leather seats needed the animals won't be able to keep up so they will come close to being extinct and other animals who prey on them will have to look for another food resource.
Effect on Climate
Already people are talking about the earths temperature rising. With more people that will only make it go up more. As the temperature rises we will experience frequent droughts, and with frequent droughts there won't be enough food grown to support the people which is not good. Then we will we be using excessive water than needed and the water will be wasted. Also, we will experience more monsoons due to the temperature rising. When we reach ten billion people the warming of the Earth will only increase at a faster rate because more cars and factories will be used. The greenhouse emissions will need to be reduced because if they go to high with ten billion people that will create too many people. Ice will start melting at the poles effecting the animals living there.
Effect on Biomes
When we reach a population of ten billion biomes will be unrecognizable. As we move into new biomes to create space for homes and other uses we will destroy the biome for our use. We will build and develop on them. For example, we will cut down rain forests for wood then after we cut them down we will build on them. It is necessary to spread into biomes because if we stay in our current places with ten billion people there could be a serious disease. As I stated earlier that the temperature will rise that could effect almost all biomes. It could create droughts in some. And some like the grasslands it could create wildfires. The increase in temperature could create big avalanches in a cold desert and make ice melt.
Citations
- Staff, By Live Science. "What 11 Billion People Mean for the Planet."LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 19 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- Staff, By Live Science. "What 11 Billion People Mean for the Planet."LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 19 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- First Picture http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/50bf662cecad04a562000005-480/gloomy-city.jpg
- Second Picture http://b-i.forbesimg.com/chrisversace/files/2013/07/Watercrisis.jpg
- Third Picture http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2014/05/global-warming.jpg