September 29th, 2009
What do Bill Gates and other billionaires see as the world's #1 problem?
It’s not peak oil and it’s not war. But it is a greentech issue. It’s population growth. But without unbridled population growth it’s very hard to maintain economic growth. This issue strikes at the very heart of 21st Century business and politics. That’s why we will ignore it. Talk about “inconvenient.” And that’s even before you face the Pope and Muslim clerics and Mormons and all the other believers who deplore birth control and women’s rights. Even China’s authoritarian government has dealt with this - by suppressing religion and enforcing a one child per family law which has curbed population growth.
Even the poorer nations such as Bangladesh are aware that their population growth is a problem. Here’s a snarky approach that may be close to the truth: Population growth as a ponzi scheme. Can we really expect technology to bail us out forever?
Yet population growth is seen as a necessary sign of economic health. Russia hates being called out for its shrinking population. Ditto Italy. Meanwhile the poorer nations seem to be growing the fastest. One study claims population growth is not affecting greenhouse gas emission. But that study does go the next step and calculate the greater amount of food needed and the carbon footprint of that food production. In most parts of the earth agriculture is the #1 source of greenhouse gas emissions, not transport or industry.
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A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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