Dr. Nina Federoff, a scientist and advisor to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and current Secretary Hillary Clinton, told the BBC program “One Planet” that there are already too many people living on planet Earth. “We need to continue to decrease the growth rate of the global population,” said Dr. Federoff, “the planet can’t support too many more people.”
I disagree with Dr. Federoff's assessment. I think the planet is more than capable of supporting the current population and then some. However, I do feel the global population may be unable to support itself in a few decades if current birth rate trends continue. As Dr. Federoff points out, the global population growth rate is already decreasing. And as the birth rates in industrialized European nations continue to decrease (as are those of developing countries, though just not at equal rates) and the current population ages and consumes more and more government resources, many national economies will be pushed to the brink if not over the edge.
We’ve already begun loading the chambers in this game of economic Russian Roulette, and so far, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to be one of the few leaders sane enough to try to push her country away from the table.
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Not a problem. Turns out the United States Navy is going to solve this problem too:
VCNO: Navy Will Be Key As Population Grows
By Philip Ewing, Navy Times, April 2, 2009
Population growth around the world, especially in the Middle East, will increase maritime traffic in the 21st century and with it, the need for U.S. seapower, the Navy’s No. 2 uniformed officer said Thursday.
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Patrick Walsh said a projected population increase of 132 percent just in the Central Command area of operations will strain supply and transportation networks for fuel, food and water. This will test the U.S. and regional navies’ abilities to intercept smugglers and terrorists without also hurting the flow of commerce, he said.
The Middle Eastern nations will also endure a “youth bulge” — build-ups of poor, unemployed men in their teens and early twenties, seen as susceptible to the appeals of radical Islamists — that American commanders worry could destabilize already fragile governments.
In a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Walsh said the Navy will be a central tool for keeping stability at sea and on land.
He said planners expect an increased need for soft power operations around the world well into the century, citing Wednesday’s deployment of the hospital ship Comfort as an example of what will become a routine. Pakistan, where U.S. forces pitched in to help after an earthquake in 2005, has asked the Navy to return for more humanitarian cooperation, Walsh said.
This kind of operational future “means building more than destroying,” he said.
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