Climate Change Part 34: World Population 7 Billion in 2011

The world population continued to expand exponentially in 2011, while diverse wars continued in various places. An unknown Tunisian street vendor immolated himself sparking the Arab Spring. The world seemed obsessed with procreating itself to extinction. Consider this simple, yet horrifying fact:

A More Controlled World Population

Third world droughts, famines, corrupt politicians, and plagues had subsidized the West’s reckless carbon spend until the death of colonialism in the 1950’s and 60’s. However, the emerging nations were more ambitious. They wanted the spoils of capitalism for themselves.

The West obliged by raiding their natural resources, and returning them as increasingly carbon intense finished products. Motor cars, not cattle became symbols of power and wealth. In 2012, NASA made the following pronouncement regarding the carbon greed of the world population:

“The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.”

The Corresponding Increase in Greenhouse Gases Continues

Scientific data proved concentrations of greenhouse gases were rising faster than in previous years, and this trend was continuing. In 2014, The Guardian Newspaper reported “the world population was ‘running out of time’ to reverse rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) to tackle climate change.

“Data show levels of the gas increased more between 2012 and 2013 than during any other year since 1984, possibly due to less uptake of carbon dioxide by ecosystems such as forests, as well as rising CO2 emissions.”

The facts were there for anybody who would listen. By 2013, “concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere were 142% of what they were before the Industrial Revolution,” according to The Guardian. However, we should not judge 2011 too harshly. Instead, we should ask ourselves how much better the world population is behaving in 2018. Moreover, what are we doing personally to protect our precious planet?