population

[jimcee]

Yes - oldies like myself are on the increase - but only because medical science can sort out our problems, we are not in the firing line in warfare, and our bus passes make life worth living.
And although oldies are multiplying there are still the same number at least of the youngies still beavering away at the baby making.
It's simple arithmetic - my parents had 3 children - between us, with the help of partners admittedly, we have now given them 6 grandchildren, and that is with just 2 per couple which is certainly below the worldwide average.
So that has tripled the number of baby makers in the space of about 50 years.

[Pentlandpirate]

I thought the scientists had got it all calculated out that population would inevitably shrink because of climate change. Surely this will be fact as we know that rising sea-levels will drown billions, droughts will cause food production to fail, and those not killed through drowning, starvation or AIDs will simply expire because there isn't enough air to breathe due to rising levels of CO2. Or will population not expand due to the rise and popularity of same sex 'marriages'?

[jimcee]

While admiring PP's simplistic approach to the solution to population explosion, it doesn't hold a lot of water - the water that is needed to drown billions.
The rise of sea level is so miniscule that relocation to avoid it could be undertaken by the entire snail population or even lethargic humans.
Drought can be overcome by desalinating all that extra water available, and AIDS will probably get a cure.
The extra CO2 business might prove harder to overcome given the developing world's desires to industrialise, and the decimation of the rainforests, but I dare say that the future planners will probably insist that every window contains a window box full of evergreen plants, and it is a mandatory jail sentence if caught pulling up a weed.
And possibly same sex couples could be given exemption from the compulsory window boxes.
If that is deviating from the seriousness of the thread, then so be it, others have already had a go - if you can't beat them - join them.

[Pentlandpirate]

If the reason for climate change is blamed on human activity why not reduce the population? Seems a very simple solution, with huge benefits to cure many of mankind's ills. How come scientists haven't worked that one out?

[NickB]

If the reason for climate change is blamed on human activity why not reduce the population? Seems a very simple solution, with huge benefits to cure many of mankind's ills. How come scientists haven't worked that one out?

How is reducing the planet's population a 'simple' matter?

Curbing our CO2 emissions seems the easier task to me.