Y6B On October 12th 1999, it was estimated the Earth added it's 6th Billionth person. To recognized this milestone in the planets history, the Fort Worth Sierra Club presented a slide show "Human Global Population" by John Parker at its October general meeting. It also ran the following article in its group newsletter by newsletter editor James Moody. In its own small way, the group hopes these actions raise awareness of the absolute necessity of stabilizing the world's human population. To get more information on how the Sierra Club is addressing the issue visit their "Global Population Stabilization Program" webpage. To receive the latest population news updates, send an e-mail to: New Reason to ‘celebrate’ Columbus DayBY.JAMES MOODY On Oct. 12, 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and we've been celebrating that date almost since that time (and bickering about the political correctness of his actions for the past decade or so). This October 12, the world will celebrate another milestone in civilization's history. The earth's population will officially be pegged at six billion. Since political correctness is not likely to be an issue, there probably won't be any controversy surrounding this latest observance of humanity's proliferation. But there should be. It’s a commemoration that only the Chamber of Commerce From Hell would ever consider celebrating. As noted in E Magazine, which reports on the environment but is not affiliated with any organization or cause, the five billionth baby born on this planet is just barely into expensive designer clothes and bad music. It took world population a century to double between 1850 and 1950. Already, it has more than doubled again from the 2.5 billion on earth at mid-twentieth century. It reminds me of a heck of a deal I passed up when I was a mere lad. I was picking cotton for my uncle for a couple of weeks during summer vacation. He asked me if I would work for a penny a day. I replied "no way!" He said: "What if I start you out at a penny a day and double your wages every day for a month?" It was still no sale. Picking cotton was too hard to do it for pennies a day and I quickly calculated that my first week’s wages would only amount to a little over a dollar and a quarter. I had no idea until he proved it with his calculator that had I accepted his offer I would have been a millionaire before the end of the month. That’s how rapidly numbers escalate when you keep doubling them. Of course, he couldn’t have paid me but a couple of weeks because he was a farmer and didn’t have that kind of money. The world has the people, however, to keep doubling in population and it’s going to take less and less time with every occurrence. Something's got to give. That's a no-brainer even if we could give up the annoying habit of eating - which we'll have to do at some point because all the world's agricultural land will be used for high-density housing. Most of the world's large cities, including the Fort Worth/Dallas Metroplex already have major pollution problems. The oceans themselves are getting so bad that we're warned not to eat certain types of fish. We're banishing God's other creations to extinction at an alarming rate to make more room for human habitats, upsetting the delicate balance of nature in the process. It's getting more and more difficult to find open spaces and wilderness areas because we're constantly encroaching upon them for fun and profit. So what do we need to reverse these disturbing trends? Certainly not add even more of us to a pot that s already boiling over. The United Nations, an organization that may also believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, believes that world population will 'only' be nine billion in 2050 and then - for some miraculous and unknown, reason - level off at that time. Call it the Neville Chamberlain syndrome. If you recall he's the one who believed that parceling out eastern Europe a country at a time to Hitler would result in "peace in our time." Or, those who slept that day in history class can simply term it the ostrich effect. In other words, ignore the problem and it’s sure to go away. Except that even in a best-case scenario, it’s questionable just how long the earth will be able to accommodate even a "mere" nine billion people. Right now, the highly civilized areas - such as the United States - are consuming the world's resources at an astronomically higher rate than people in developing countries. As the standard of living increases in these now-backward countries, so will their consumption and so will their contribution to pollution. And, as they say, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where that leaves us heading in that fabled hand basket we're riding in. The sad thing is, until we feel the heat from that ultimate destination, we're not likely to do anything about it. And by then, it may be too late for anything but global catastrophe to remedy the problem. Money greases the wheels of politics and there's just not a lot of money in, looking out for the best interests of posterity. The unholy alliance between the moneyed interests and the fundamental religious groups doesn't bode well for our children and grandchildren either. But check out the quality of our very own air and it's pretty obvious there's not even any interest in looking out for our own best interests. When a U.S. Representative was in my office a year or so ago, she thought my answer odd when I responded to her question of what I considered to be the nation's biggest problem. My answer was that the world's, and thus the nation's, biggest problem was over population. To put it in simple terms: 10 percent of all the people who have ever lived are alive today. If you spaced us all 15 inches apart we would extend to the moon and back three times. There's any number of important issues in the world: social security, health care, education, human rights, the elderly, capital gains (although that one's not too important to those of us in my income bracket). But every single one of them will become moot points if we don't rein in our insatiable passion to reproduce. It's not enough that we level off population growth in this country. What the world - and it’s people - really needs is a concerted global effort to stabilize population. And it ain't gonna happen any time soon. So pardon me if I don't get in a festive mood for the celebration of our six billionth person.
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