Aspire.Attune.Animate

Developing a common understanding and language is essential to any community-based program.  It is especially important when working in the realm of education and the environment.

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Nova's World in Balance site helps us explore the impact of human population growth from both social and environmental perspectives.  I took their interactive quiz and noted some interesting facts.  If you'd like to take this quiz and learn more about this issue, please follow the following link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/trends.html

Developed Countries Population Impacts

1. Roughly 240 million people, or 20 percent of the developed-world population, are 60 years or older. By 2050, the ratio will be 1 in 3.

2. Only about 20 percent of older Americans live in extended-family settings—a century ago, 70 percent lived with their grown children and extended family.

3. By 2035, the ratio youth to elderly will be roughly 2.5 to 1. The low ratio of taxpayers to retirees will have significant economic consequences. In the 1960s, when many entitlement programs were established, the ratio was closer to 7 to 1.

4. Estimated that payroll tax rate would need to be 31.9 percent in the US to cover public pensions and health benefits. It would be even more severe in Japan and Italy, where the tax rates would need to be 53.2 and 71.5 percent, respectively.

Developing Countries Population Impacts

1. Fertility has plummeted from 6.1 to 3.3. Yet populations continue to skyrocket because of ever-increasing numbers of young people who are having babies—a phenomenon known as population momentum.

2. The World Health Organization estimates that 527,000 women in the developing world died in 2000 from maternal causes. The lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 61 for women in the developing world, 1 in 2,800 for women in more developed countries.

3. There are 1.6 billion people under the age of 15—more than a quarter of the world’s population. In India alone there are roughly 550 million people under 25. Even if fertility rates decline sharply, the large numbers of young people in the developed world will fuel population growth.

4. Roughly 40 percent live in urban areas, compared with 76 percent in the developed world. But the developing world is becoming more urban; by 2030, nearly 60 percent of people may live in cities. With urbanization, consumption patterns may increasingly mirror those in the developed world—creating a potential host of environmental problems.

Environmental Impacts

1. High levels of consumption of everything from freshwater to fossil fuels to kitchen gadgets is the greatest cause of environmental damage in more developed countries. These high consumption patterns also affect environments in the less developed world.

2. In a single year each North American consumes roughly 230 gigajoules of energy, or the energy in 92 barrels of oil. This is twice as much as Europeans, eight times as much as Asians, and more than 15 times as much as Africans.

3. In China there are only 15 cars for every 1,000 people. In most developed nations there are more than 200, and in the U.S. there are nearly 600.

4. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, roughly 34 million children, women, and men are undernourished in the more developed world, but the vast majority—nearly 800 million—live in the developing world.

5. As a country gets richer, a middle class develops and the more affluent population demands a cleaner environment. Older equipment is replaced by more expensive but cleaner technologies. England, the U.S., Germany, and Japan all followed this pattern.

The facts presented in this quiz, along with those on this site and other, only illustrate the dire situation in which we have put ourselves. But by outlining the problems, these sources give us a much clearer peek at the solutions. While it may seem that the problems are monumental, we can see one by one, little by little how they came into being. If we approach the solutions in the same manner, we could see a monumental movement towards a healthy sustainable future.

The facts regarding affluence are also critical. Many look at the US in particular, as a nation of plenty and a nation of waste. As economist Simon Kuznets observed, with sustained affluence comes a focus on a better and cleaner environment, which is often overlooked as people are fighting for survival. I have had the opportunity to observe this phenomenon. What I observed had less to do with the physicality of being poor or the differences of living in a developing country, but the differences in thought processes. It’s the thought process that equalizes being in poverty in a developed nation and a developing nation. However separates the two by the access and opportunity to acquire and utilize this thought process. The thought process is actually fairly simple, and is summed up by a popular saying in the 2008 presidential campaign, “Yes We Can!” When I heard it, I recognized that this is a thought process brought about by affluence and/or ones exposure to it. Those of us who have experienced poverty know that the impoverished have not had the opportunity to think,” yes we can.” Yes we can, requires us to have a vision about our future, much longer term than poverty can afford. It requires access to tools and resources that shows us how, which never quite trickle down to the poor. However, the exposure to this thought process can ignite a people and spread like wildfire, because people have the desire to do what is healthy and sustainable providing they have a real means of survival. For me this means that part of my responsibility as one who seeks solutions to environmental issues, is to also ensure that I provide the necessary tools, guidance, and resources that empower others, especially the impoverished, with the opportunity to believe and implement the “yes we can” thought process.