This blog has two awesome videos! (Does that make you want to read it?)

I have written and rewritten this blog four times in the last two days. I know, I know: "Blogs are easy and fun!" said every blogger ever.

I have blogged about issues in the chapter such as carrying capacity, and how the earth simply does not have enough resources to sustain the exponentially growing global population.

I have blogged about inequality, and how the world's problems cannot be understood without understanding the basic principles of development and underdevelopment.

I've blogged about how uncomfortable it is to think about the world with 9 billion people by 2050. Not just as an uncomfortable thought, but an actual discomfort, with the image of a sardine can rolling through my head.

 

However, each time I rewrote this blog, it immediately transformed into something completely unbloggy (that's a word, right?) I wrote it like I would write a research paper: formal and informative and dry and so painfully god awfully boring.

 

But then I realized that this blog can't be boring because this topic isn't boring: it is real and it effects people all over the world. Thomas Malthus basically said that growing populations are the root of all problems. I can try lead an unbiased discussion about this argument, but the truth is that, as a Geology student, I think that there is enormous validity in this argument. Rising carbon dioxide levels, a depleting ozone layer, and overconsumption of nonrenewable resources all directly correlate with human population growth. Just check out these two graphs.

 

The first is human population growth, and the second is global carbon dioxide levels. They look pretty similar, don't they? Hell, they could basically be superimposed and match up exactly. It's hard to look at these graphs and disagree with the Malthusian argument. The proof is undeniable that bad things, both for the environment and for people, accompany population growth.

 

However, exponential population growth is not the singular cause of our unbalanced world. As the text said, inequality is rooted in both development and underdevelopment. While there are correlations between population and development (the most underdeveloped countries in the world have the fastest growth rates), one is not necessarily the cause for the other. One of the beauties of a blog is that awesome videos can replace my scholarly arguments, so enjoy. Also, he has a great accent and goofy movements.



 

This video reflects some of the ideas of the section we read. A country's placement on the curve was not dependent on its size--some of the biggest were at the front while some of the tiniest were at the back, and visa versa.

 

As this reading suggested, there is no purely Malthusian argument, nor is there a purely Anti-Malthusian argument. There are various reasons that the world experiences inequality. While one of those reasons is population, it is not the sole bandit creating "poverty, hunger, misery, and resource scarcity" (Bell 96). It is unlikely that a singular reason will ever be pinpointed and completely resolved (although perhaps the abolishment of the Bretton Woods institutions would be a good place to start). The point is that whatever kind of corrupted world we're creating right now is the same one that 9 billion people will call home by 2050. Wouldn't it be nice if they found it directed by the policies of globally-minded activists rather than those of self-absorbed bureaucrats?

 

I have one last video to wrap up this chapter into one nice little packet. I have to say, this blog wasn't as painful to write as I thought it might be. I've come away with no broken bones, no cuts, and no carpal tunnel. First blog post: accomplished. Hey, that was easy and fun.