really knows exactly how many we are. No one ever knew exactly. It has always been estimates. But we can be fairly certain that the chimpanzees now are less than 250.000 in the world. And even if they unite with the possibly 100.000 gorillas and less than 70.000 orangutans (from both Borneo and Sumatra), I believe we do not need to fear any events from the Planet of the Apes to be coming true. In 1972 author Arthur C Clarke was asked to predict As a matter of fact. Even if they would plot to overthrow the rule of homo sapiens by winning the trust of all the the future over the next 20 years. By chance I found this remaining lions (<40.000), tigers (<3.000), wolves and article in 1992 and compared Arthur's predictions to bears, foxes, leopards, panthers, puma, lynxes, rhinos, reality. The great truth then was, all that needed a elephants. Yes, even if the otherwise peaceful giraffes, substantial investment (buildings, streets, ships and zebra, antilope, moose and deer join, we have nothing to aircraft, etc) are meant to last for more than 20 years, fear. We can wipe them all out with a single nuke. so it is safe to assume they will still be around. But all Hell, a none-endangered species like the wild boar in a which is encumbering the economy of individuals, can sparsely populated country like Sweden, can't even take on Gothenburg, even if they are joined by all the bears, change from today until tomorrow. And so it has been. lynx, moose and wolves of both Sweden and Norway. Now, yet another 20 years have gone by and many of Wildlife simply isn't what it used to be (100 years ago). Arthur's words of prophecy still widely apply. But for And everyone needs to eat. Everyone. It is projected the first time, I feel the next 20 years can't be predicted that there will be 8 billion barely humane beings on this as easily. The near future will have to bring about more planet by 2025. And everyone needs to eat. Let's get it and radical changes. We can't keep buying and over with! Let's make ivory chess pieces and mah jong throwing away stuff as we have been doing. The piles of tiles of the remaining half million elephants on this planet and we have a lot of meat to share with hungry people. garbage get bigger and bigger as more of the planets The projections beyond 2025 are really interesting. population are reaching for a more comfortable life. We About.com Geography, which is part of the New York need more and more energy to keep up our lifestyle and times can see the numbers 9 billion people and 10 billion we already use the resources of the Earth faster than for the years 2043 and 2083. UN 2010 projections and they can be replaced. However... the selling, buying and the US Census Bureau have a variable outlook. wasting is now stalling. Why? It should be obvious that According to the highest estimate, the world population a system based on constant economic growth will have may rise to 16 billion by 2100; according to the lowest estimate, it may decline to only 6 billion. to break down eventually. We can not have infinite Trying to find accurate numbers on the internet is very growth on a finite planet. It is simply impossible. confusing. About many things. A country with a whole lot But humankind is facing more than the One problem. of pencil pushers can give you a fairly exact number as Overpopulation, environmental changes and resource to their population, but when it comes to wild boars, the depletion add stress to the already fragile system. The estimate is 150.000-300.000. speed with which we approach the tipping point is The question of how much farmland there is on the steadily increasing. What can we expect to happen in planet, is interesting. I have found all sort of different the next 20 years? estimates, none of them conclusive. We could convert more forestland to farmland, but then we'd be killing off our oxygen suppliers (curiously enough, the wikipedia 3000 Years ago the world was estimated to have been article about oxygen doesn't mention trees at all). Even if inhabited by roughly 50 million people. According to we had more farmland, let's not forget it needs to be Wikipedia, which is just as inaccurate as everyone else, irrigated as well. We then need to replace the nourish- by the year 1000, we had increased to 310 million. ment which has been taken from the ground. And for all In the year 1804, many like to believe they know, the of this, we need more energy. planet Earth hit its first billion representatives of the species homo sapiens. By 1912, there were 1.000 homo sapiens on every simian troglodyte (chimpanzee) and in 1927 we hit the 2nd billion. I was born in 1959. So I came just in time to be among humankind as we swished past 3 billion in the year 1960. I noticed the ticking of the world population clock for the first time as we numbered 4 billion in 1975. For some reason I was more or less oblivious to the passing of the 5 billion milestone in 1987 and didn't react much either as we hit 6 billion in 1999. But somewhere between October 2011 and March 2012 we passed the 7 billion number. It depends on who you consult. The US Census Bureau or UN. Because no one This is not science fiction. This is now. 1 George Harrison, lyrics: - Bangla Desh (1971) time soon. But... in January 2011 it was reported, that the sun went up 2 days early on Greenland. Because the My friend came to me, with sadness in his eyes sheet of ice has been sinking. He told me that he wanted help And now, as I pour me a whisky, I am wondering if an Before his country dies abrupt climate change as in The Day After Tomorrow Although I couldn't feel the pain, I knew I had to try can happen. There is still another week of thaw in the Now I'm asking all of you Arctic as I write this. We shall see how low this years ice To help us save some lives sheet low will become. I have already bookmarked the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) in Firefox. Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh Where so many people are dying fast And it sure looks like a mess I've never seen such distress Now won't you lend your hand and understand Relieve the people of Bangla Desh Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh Estimates for 1971 had the population of this Bengali country at 71 million. Yup, we saved them, all right. They are now estimated over 162 million people. Well done, there! Indeed. The population is relatively young, with 60% being 25 or younger. Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 70 years for both gender in 2012. It is now the 8th most populous country in the world. It is also the most densely populated large country in the world, if we don't count very, very small countries, like city-states. My guess is, the distress seen in 1971 will become a mere whisper compared to what the future has in store. Okay, it is a bit harsh, but not necessarily an abnormal amount of snow for a place like Stockholm. I've told my son It didn't work out as nicely for the Somalians. One year not to worry unless the snow doesn't thaw away in the summer ago it was reported by the BBC that as many as 750.000 any more. That would be the time to head south. Somalians could die as their drought worsened. Imagine! That is more people than the entire elephant population - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - of this planet!!! Yet... the demography of Somalia shows As you may know already. Most money doesn't exist as that their population has increased by another million money at all. It only exists as numbers in computers. people since 2010. The curve looks a bit odd. It is more Some of this money is backed up by real existing stuff, or less constant between 1980 and until 1995 where the but a lot of money are mere ghost assets and backed up 6 and a half million Somalians only increased with one by absolutely nothing. In the past 4 years between 30 hundred thousand people over 15 years. We must have and 40 trillion dollars of ghost assets have vanished done something right... because in the following 10 years the population went up with two million. Now Somalia is into what it was to begin with – thin air. more populous than Sweden. Albeit most of them still very young, though... Wikipedia has an article named You should amuse yourself with Mr Google. Type the •2007–2012 GL·BAL FINANCIAL CRISIS name Somalia and see what images come up! Lots of guns, children, dead people and various combinations of ...as if the crisis could be over any time soon. If the world the above. But sorry, this is neither science fiction, nor ends at Christmas, they would be right, but I doubt it. fantasy. This is now. At least it is an admission that we are still in one and the same crisis that began in 2007.