Facts and Figures

TOTAL EARTH'S SURFACE
= 197 million square miles
= 510 million square kilometers
TOTAL WATER SURFACE
= 140 million square miles
= 363 million square kilometers
TOTAL LAND SURFACE
= 57 million square miles
=147 million square kilometers
(From Colliers Encyclopedia)

OF THE TOTAL AREA OF LAND SURF ACE OF EARTH:
57 million milcs2 x 640acrcs/square mile = 36,480,000,000 acres
2.5 acres to support one family (2 adults, 2 children) or 0.625 acres per person

From the January 1992 FAO Report (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

      1. 11 % of land surface suitable for agriculture (22%) with appropriate irrigation and drainage
      2. 6% permafrost
      3. 10% too wet
      4. 22% too shallow
      5. 23% with chemical problem
      6. 28% too dry.

 

TWO ASSUMPTIONS

    1. Only 11% of the land surface is suitable for agriculture.
    2. It takes 0.625 acres of suitable land to support each person.

 

TOTAL LAND SURFACE = 57 million square miles

Total land suitable for agriculture = 57,000,000 miles2 x 0.11 = 6,270,000 square milcs
= 6.27 million x 640 acres/mile2 = 4,012.8 million acres or 4 billion acres.

At 0.625 acres per person: 4012.8 million + 0.625 acres/person = 6420.48 million or about 6.4 billion people.

 

Therefore, based on the above assumptions, the world can support about

6. 4 billion people

see
World Population Today

 

In order to prevent heavy and unnecessary loss of human life at that population level:

  1. There will be no erosion or deterioration of the present available arable land.
  2. Everyone on earth will be vegetarian (no cattle).
  3. There will be no military and no war.
  4. Thcrc will be no population increase beyond 6.4 billion.
  5. There will be no pets (dogs or cats).
  6. There will be no insect pests.
  7. There will be no plant diseases.
  8. There will be no trains, boats, automobiles, RVs, ORVs, airplanes or other vehicles or machinery to necessitat~ exploiting resources or increasing global warming.
  9. There will be no use of agriculture lands to build cities.
  10. There will be no wealthy people, everyone will live at the very lowest level of subsistence.
  11. There will be no unusual or disastrous climatic changes.
  12. There will be no plagues or new diseases (heavy population density would facilitate extremely rapid spread of any disease).

So.... what do you think is the probability that the above 12 criteria for survival will happen with the political climate of the world today?? Does 6.4 billion people represent a realistic carrying capacity for the world human population? If not, why not?

Q. If we could double the carrying capacity of the earth for supporting more people, how long would that last? Remember, the world human population is doubling every 40 years! Could we actually double the world carrying capacity?? That would mean that we would have to double all resources to accomodate some 12.8 billion people between 2004 and 2044.

But wait! For the eternal optimist, do you really think we could double that in the next 40 years....?? If you do then you simply are not facing reality, for that would mean increasing all agriculture, all schools and universities, all recreational facilities, all highways, all golf courses, all little league baseball fields, all sports stadiums, all airports, all railways, all forms of telecommunications, all hospitals and every type of human endeavor that makes life worth living to accomodate 25.6 billion people. If you believe that, you are in an Alice in Wonderland of science fiction.