Sei! ees —menengre © the other press Opinions November 26, 2003 Change David Suzuki In the next 50 years, 2.6 billion more souls will be added to our little club called humanity. That's more people than were alive on the entire planet in 1950 and it will bring our population to nearly nine billion. No doubt such an increase will put tremendous strain on our already-taxed natu- ral resources, but what the future will look like still depends on choices we make today. Before 1950, no person had ever lived to see the global popu- lation double. In my lifetime, the population has tripled. The scale of such rapid growth is unprecedented. There are now ten times as many people alive as there were just 300 years ago. Although our absolute annual increase in numbers has declined David Suzuki Foundation since 1970, we are still adding 77 million people to the planet every year. Where and how these people live is changing. We've gone from being a largely rural society, to one that increasingly inhabits cities. By the end of this decade, it is estimated that more than half of all people will live in cities. And by 2030, well over 80 percent of people in developed countries will live in urban areas. Recently, a series of articles in the journal Science examined what some of these changes will mean for humanity. Although much of the information pre- sented shows disturbing trends and an uncertain future, what is certain is that we still have opportunities to change our future for the better. For example, feeding almost nine billion people will indeed be a huge challenge—especially Name: Yuko Age: 23 Accounting Diploma Craig David French vanilla coffee McDonald’s Biggest Addiction? White chocolate http://www.otherpress.ca Program at Douglas College? Last CD in your stereo? What is your favourite drink? Who makes the best pizza? Downstairs cafeteria (NW) First fast food shop you go to in a rush? r since the largest increases in pop- ulation will be in poorer areas of the world. Only about ten per- cent of the earth’s surface is suit- able for agriculture, and even with intensification of agricul- tural processes, it’s estimated that 120 million more hectares of land in developing countries will likely be converted to agriculture over the next 25 years. Martin Jenkins of the United Nations Environment Programme points out in Science that such an enormous land conversion will change the face of the earth. The remaining large blocks of rainforest in both the Amazon and Zaire Basins, for example, will become things of the past, resulting in a large loss of species diversity and a host of unknown changes and potential problems, such as altered regional weather patterns. In addition to agricultural pressures, developing countries will face increasing demand for lumber and other raw materials from what is left of their wild spaces. Although the economic value of conserving wild areas is often vastly greater than exploit- ing them, it can be often tempt- ing for officials in poor areas to take what they get now, rather than to conserve for the future. One recent study found the countries that currently house the greatest number of species also have the most corrupt gov- ernments and the worst conser- vation records. In spite of these challenges, we still have opportunities for change. Mr. Jenkins points out, for example, that declines in the number of wild species associat- ed with agricultural land in developed nations may or may Name: Imran Age: 20 Criminology McDonald’s Program at Douglas College? Last CD in your stereo? Destiny’s Child What is your favourite drink? Chocolate milk Who makes the best pizza? Pizza Hut—but I used to work therre so that’s probably why. First fast food shop you go to in a rush? Biggest Addiction? Starbucks coffee, white chocolate mocha not continue, depending on the success of the consumer push toward “greener” forms of agri- culture. The world population is almost certainly going to increase by nearly 50 percent in less than 50 years. But how well we are able to cope with that increase depends on our reaction to the social and environmental chal- lenges we face today—poverty, unsustainable agricultural prac- tices, resource depletion, and cli- mate change. Dealing with these problems will only become hard- er as our population increases. By facing them sooner, rather than later, we will be able to choose our own future, rather than letting it choose us. Take the Nature Challenge and learn more at .