How many people do you think Earth can take? 9 billion? 12 billion? 30 billion?
What do you think should be Earth's capacity, as in what do you think should be the maximum amount of people in the world? 2 billion? 4 billion? 6 billion?
*cough*uses Modly voice: Let's switch gears and get this back on track please guys.
Now that THAT'S over with....
I was noticing something a while back about creating vertical 'habitats'. I think it was in a discussion with Asherlee and a few others some time ago. Basically the links posted (I can't find the site now for some reason, I think my google-fu is out of practice) were about creating 'green' habitats for ourselves. They were basically high-rise apartment complexes which used solar and (I think) wind power to supply the residents with electricity. Around the exterior of the building there were massive green houses in which the residents could grow and enjoy their staples, such as fruits and vegetables, and the irrigation for this came from the filtered gray water waste from the residents.
Rather ingenious plan, and honestly I could see something like this happening in the not-to-distant future. In fact, such a thing would become necessary rather rapidly if we continue at our current rate of consumption and waste.
Anyway, as has been pointed out, it's all about the global lifestyle trends when we address issues of carrying capacity. Certainly there is only so much surface area which we can occupy, but if we can utilize the space and resources we have more effectively then we can obviously increase the capacity immensely.
I was noticing something a while back about creating vertical 'habitats'. I think it was in a discussion with Asherlee and a few others some time ago. Basically the links posted (I can't find the site now for some reason, I think my google-fu is out of practice) were about creating 'green' habitats for ourselves. They were basically high-rise apartment complexes which used solar and (I think) wind power to supply the residents with electricity. Around the exterior of the building there were massive green houses in which the residents could grow and enjoy their staples, such as fruits and vegetables, and the irrigation for this came from the filtered gray water waste from the residents.
That's exactly what it is Mage. The site that I saw was actual architectural schematics for several possible structures though. They were very intriguing and looked to be both very functional as well as aesthetically pleasing, both in the structures themselves and with the layouts of the living areas and green houses.
Earth's Capacity = Resources = How much we use. = Oh Crap... We're screw'd
Not necessarily. While at our current rate of consumption of the resources we use most (i.e. fossil fuels) we certainly won't last much longer on our current path, nor do we have much left for any significant expansion of the population. However by using alternate, and vastly more renewable resources we can greatly increase the availability of necessary resources and in so doing increase the Earth's carrying capacity.
Watched a show on this if the earths population double food and water would run low and large skyscrapers would rise up did you know some skyscrapers could actually cause earthquakes with there weight the jist was a catoclyismic chain of events accured bring the population down t billion the earth doesnt want to many of us if civilazatio grows too large earth will throw us off its back
I had to do a project on vertical farming last year... giant skyscraper greenhouses... and they take the waste and burn it in the basement to make some extra energy to help power the whole building... pretty interesting
Population wise? For all of you out there, I hope you realize that "artificial" food is probably the future unless a dramatic decrease in population occurs. By genetically modifying plants/animals to grow faster/more, and using things like pesticides, there is enough food. Without this I don't know if we could even support our current population.
As for the resource part, we DO have alternate resources, just no one thinks it's worth using, but once we run out of fossil fuels and what not, we will resort to that. It's not like windpower is hard to come by, and there will be changes in lifestyle, but it's by no means going to be a serious problem (Other than politically, because the oil companies, gas stations, etc, are going to go, and that means all the workers for them)
Without this I don't know if we could even support our current population.
Actually
This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food.
Exactly Samy. We produce enough food globally that no one in the world, at our current production and consumption levels should ever be hungry. Yet worldwide hunger is a very real and very deadly situation. It isn't a matter of not having enough, it's a matter of not putting enough in the right places.
Actually This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food. World Hunger
This didn't quite answer my question, is this with genetically modified plants, the usage of pesticides and other such modern agriculture techniques?
