On October 31st the population of the world is set to reach 7 billion. Obviously this has implications for all of us.
On the one hand, there is no denying that it will be a challenge to feed, clothe, educate, accomodate, provide health care and generally provide for seven billion people.
On the other hand, as well as having seven billion people to care for, we also have – potentially – seven billion people to share the burden.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is running a global campaign called 7 Billion Actions to build awareness of both the challenges and opportunities this population growth will bring.
7 Billion Actions aims to achieve two key objectives:
- Building global awareness around the opportunities and challenges associated with a world of seven billion people.
- Inspiring governments, NGOs, private sector, media, academia and individuals to take actions that will have a socially positive impact.
“Small actions taken by each of us, multiplied across communities, can create a better world.” — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
7 Billion Butterfly Effects for Change?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdu71FSKJvI]
__________________________________________________________
Related articles
- Countdown Begins: 7 Days to 7 Billion People (appablog.wordpress.com)
- U.N.: World days away from 7 billion population (edition.cnn.com)
- Population of world ‘could grow to 15bn by 2100’ (guardian.co.uk)
- What number are you in the world population? (telegraph.co.uk)
If everyone pulled their own weight + 10% . . . we’d be in great shape.
Agreed!
Just imagine 7 billion unselfish butterflies 🙂 🙂
Well potentially so anyway!
I asked a friend of mine who is an expert on social media a question that has concerned me for some time.
1) Is the planet wide instant messaging Twitter world we are creating, the beginnings of a collective mind that will really tap into the brains of the seven billion and come up with really creative new solutions to the planets problems or
2) Is it a massive distraction that stops us noticing that if we don’t do something the planet is sinking. Or as I put it on bad days: ‘As our problems become more complex, our attention span diminishes’. Not heard back yet. 🙂
But I guess what intrigues me more because I never take thinks lying down, is what does it take to make it more like 1) than 2)?????
I asked a friend of mine who is an expert on social media a question that has concerned me for some time.
1) Is the planet wide instant messaging Twitter world we are creating, the beginnings of a collective mind that will really tap into the brains of the seven billion and come up with really creative new solutions to the planets problems or
2) Is it a massive distraction that stops us noticing that if we don’t do something the planet is sinking. Or as I put it on bad days: ‘As our problems become more complex, our attention span diminishes’. Not heard back yet. 🙂
But I guess what intrigues me more because I never take thinks lying down, is what does it take to make it more like 1) than 2)?????
What must End, What must Begin
War must end. Competition must end. Waste must end.
Peace must begin. Cooperation must begin. Bounty must begin.
Individual exploration must begin. Colonization of space must begin.
Capitalism must end. Poverty must end. Greed must end.
Selflessness must begin. Equality must begin. Compassion must begin.
Being rich must end. Being poor must end. Premature death must end.
Clean free energy must begin. Naturalism must begin.
Life must begin, again.
John Pontious 8/21/2011
http://www.johnpnts.wordpress.com
Couldn’t agree more – thanks for the comment.
@johnpunts, well I guess conflict is what I do, so some gentle, respectful push back, though I agree with your direction. I would certainly like to greatly reduce the incidence of war, so we don’t kill 150 million as we did in the 20th. century. Ending war altogether is much harder. I don’t think competition ending is either feasible or desirable, but it can take new, more cooperative/non zero sum forms. Individual inner exploration is essential, as is exploration of space and exploration of us as a collective species. I can’t see how capitalism can end, when there is no obvious alternative; so I would prefer to say capitalism will dramatically and benignly evolve. Poverty must be greatly reduced and can be. And inequality greatly reduced too. I don’t really believe in selflessness, so much as really knowing ourselves, and using that knowledge for ourselves and others neither selflessly nor selfishly. Energy is never free as per second law of thermodynamics; clean and less wasteful, sustainable by all means. I have a Taoist streak in me that suggests that any attempt to move to an extreme creates counter forces and can lead to the opposite extreme. Prohibition of alcohol in the US led to gangsterism for example. Life is always beginning over and is an infinite game….Respectfully CCW
Thank you for your insightful wisdom. Please see http://www.johnpnts.wordpress.com, as I would greatly value your opinion of my idea to use hydrogen as the solitary source for energy within ten years.
What must End, What must Begin
War must end. Competition must end. Waste must end.
Peace must begin. Cooperation must begin. Bounty must begin.
Individual exploration must begin. Colonization of space must begin.
Capitalism must end. Poverty must end. Greed must end.
Selflessness must begin. Equality must begin. Compassion must begin.
Being rich must end. Being poor must end. Premature death must end.
Clean free energy must begin. Naturalism must begin.
Life must begin, again.
John Pontious 8/21/2011
http://www.johnpnts.wordpress.com
Couldn’t agree more – thanks for the comment.
@johnpunts, well I guess conflict is what I do, so some gentle, respectful push back, though I agree with your direction. I would certainly like to greatly reduce the incidence of war, so we don’t kill 150 million as we did in the 20th. century. Ending war altogether is much harder. I don’t think competition ending is either feasible or desirable, but it can take new, more cooperative/non zero sum forms. Individual inner exploration is essential, as is exploration of space and exploration of us as a collective species. I can’t see how capitalism can end, when there is no obvious alternative; so I would prefer to say capitalism will dramatically and benignly evolve. Poverty must be greatly reduced and can be. And inequality greatly reduced too. I don’t really believe in selflessness, so much as really knowing ourselves, and using that knowledge for ourselves and others neither selflessly nor selfishly. Energy is never free as per second law of thermodynamics; clean and less wasteful, sustainable by all means. I have a Taoist streak in me that suggests that any attempt to move to an extreme creates counter forces and can lead to the opposite extreme. Prohibition of alcohol in the US led to gangsterism for example. Life is always beginning over and is an infinite game….Respectfully CCW
Thank you for your insightful wisdom. Please see http://www.johnpnts.wordpress.com, as I would greatly value your opinion of my idea to use hydrogen as the solitary source for energy within ten years.