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We do have an overpopulation problem if we expect to increase the quality of life of everyone on Earth. Wealth-wise, the global bottom 50% emit on average 1.4

by aylmao 4y ago

We do have an overpopulation problem if we expect to increase the quality of life of everyone on Earth. Wealth-wise, the global bottom 50% emit on average 1.4 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year. The top 10% emits 28.7 tCO2e [1]. We're not talking about billionaires when we mention "the top 10%. This was a 2019 study, so 10% of the population was about 770 million people— that's roughly the population of the whole of Europe [2]. That bottom 50% deserve their living standards to be elevated. They deserve and should get sewage, home appliances, water pipes, electricity, cars, meat, video games, disposable income, etc etc. When that happens, half of the population could be producing one or two orders of magnitude more tCO2e. Someone in that 10% right now is producing 205x more tCO2e than someone in that bottom 50%, and it isn't because they own private jets, it's because they can afford a washer and dryer. [1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00955-z#:~:text=Global%20carbon%20inequality%20between%20individuals&text=The%20global%20bottom%2050%25%20emit,16.9%25%20of%20the%20total https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00955-z#:~:text=G...). [2]: https://www.worldometers.info/geography/7-continents/ https://www.worldometers.info/geography/7-continents/

huijzer 4y ago
> We do have an overpopulation problem if we expect to increase the quality of life of everyone on Earth. This assumes that technology remains constant.
- chickenimprint 4y ago
  There are fundamental limits to physics, to space and to time. If the next generation wants cars, single family housing, authentic meat and fish and various other amenities, there needs to be less competition for resources. As it stands now, technology is not catching up and a smaller percentage of them will have access to those amenities. We can't just create more oil out of thin air. Progress on batteries is too slow and renewables and electric cars are too expensive. We're already over-fishing and over-farming the earth with our current population. We are missing all of our climate targets, and that's on an earth where most don't live in developed countries yet. We could replace those needs with technology like VR experiences and processed food for example, but I have a hard time seeing how that will be enough.

by aylmao 4y ago

huijzer 4y ago

> We do have an overpopulation problem if we expect to increase the quality of life of everyone on Earth. This assumes that technology remains constant.

chickenimprint 4y ago
There are fundamental limits to physics, to space and to time. If the next generation wants cars, single family housing, authentic meat and fish and various other amenities, there needs to be less competition for resources. As it stands now, technology is not catching up and a smaller percentage of them will have access to those amenities. We can't just create more oil out of thin air. Progress on batteries is too slow and renewables and electric cars are too expensive. We're already over-fishing and over-farming the earth with our current population. We are missing all of our climate targets, and that's on an earth where most don't live in developed countries yet. We could replace those needs with technology like VR experiences and processed food for example, but I have a hard time seeing how that will be enough.