The sixth billion baby is a symbol, probably chosen because he was the first
baby born after midnight in the town where the U.N. Secretary General
happened to be. We might have reached the 6 billion mark a few months ago
or we might not reach it until early next year. The date to observe the six
billion mark was chosen a while back as a likely time. But more important
than when we reach six billion is the question about what we are going to do
to achieve sustainability with whatever number of humans there are. Some
people, myself included, think we humans have already exceeded the planet's
carrying capacity. And even though the rate of population growth is slowing
in all countries, the population hasn't stopped growing. We are still
increasing by about 78 million people a year. That's equivalent to a city
the size of San Francisco about every three days or a country the size of
the U.S. about every three years. And what happens when all these new babies
reach their reproductive years? Even if all humans from this very second
onward produced no more than two children per couple, the population would
continue to grow for quite a while.
Carol (and Brodie)
