Take a look at the following numbers:World Population Growth
Year Population
1 200 million
1000 275 million
1500 450 million
1650 500 million
1750 700 million
1804 1 billion
1850 1.2 billion
1900 1.6 billion
1927 2 billion
1950 2.55 billion
1955 2.8 billion
1960 3 billion
1965 3.3 billion
1970 3.7 billion
1975 4 billion
1980 4.5 billion
1985 4.85 billion
1990 5.3 billion
1995 5.7 billion
1999 6 billion
2006 6.5 billion
2009 6.8 billion
2011 7 billion
2025 8 billion
2050 9.4 billion
*Source: Matt Rosenberg, About.com
It took 1800 years for the world’s population to grow from a mere 200 million to 1 billion. But it has taken only another 200 years to grow from 1 billion to nearly 7 billion.
Staggering, isn’t it? Things are changing; they must change. The old ways of doing things will not work anymore. The Earth’s resources must be managed wisely. We cannot waste, we cannot wantonly destroy, we cannot use the world as a sewer and chemical dump any longer.
The population growth means our combined impact upon the planet can now be measured. The old days where it “didn’t matter” are gone.
From now on, all of us share a responsibility for the world.
