Earth Matters
Stories for Reflection
In this space, you can engage with some words from those working on the relationship between human beings and our world in the context of ecology and climate change. What will happen to people around the world if we do nothing about the fifth mark of mission? There are some questions and activities from Sharing God's Planet, to help you reflect more deeply on the news stories.
John
How many people can the planet sustain?
As the world's population reaches 7 billion...
The editorial in the Guardian online on 23rd October 2011 reported that some demographers are warning of dire consequences for the environment, which will be most pronounced in parts of the world where the population grows fastest – such as sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, policies aimed at tackling poverty and disease are not progressing. Some are saying that life for the earth's majority has got better in the 12 years since the 6 billionth person has been born. However, the Guardian argues that our current time is "so shaped by the burden of human activity that scientists are calling it the anthropocene age, the explosive near-trebling of the world's population from just 2.5bn in 1950 demands at least an equal focus on reducing our environmental impact."
Population growth: the baby bomb - Guardian Online 23rd October 2011