Extra Credit? = )

The only possible way that I could explain population growth to my classmates would be to call it a crisis over time. In one single year, it would seem completely insignificant. 2%? That's not even worth mentioning one would say. However, imagine if it steadily rose at 2% per year for fifty years? That's 100%! Double. To put this into understandable terms, it would be easiest to imagine this growth in regards to daily home life. Imagine living in an apartment building throughout your adulthood. When you first move in straight out of college, there are 100 people living with you in your building. There are, say, 110 parking spaces and about 75-90 apartments. Great, right? Everyone has their own space. Everyone is happy. Now, imagine moving back into that same apartment complex 25 years later when you suffer a mid-life crisis and decide to return to your youth. There are still 75-90 apartments and 110 parking spaces but wait! Now there are 150 people living in the complex! There aren't enough parking spaces for anyone and the aparments are severly over crowded. And that's to day that the growth hasn't increased over time! Imagine if it grew 5% per year? That would mean that the population of the apartment had probably more than doubled since you last lived there. Everything would be unsanitary and overcrowded and everyone would be fighting over where to park and live. Scary right? Well that's what is currently happening to our country and Earth. We are increasing our numbers at an alarming rate, namely due to the crazy technology keeping us alive these days.

There is no simple solution as to how to fix this problem. The only thing I can possibly say without really venturing into space as other publications would suggest, is the notion of spreading out. Sure, it sounds too simple and a little old fashioned and perhaps useless but really think about it. Have you ever been to Arizona? There are hundreds of miles in Arizona where you see not a single soul in sight. And then go to Atlanta. I challenge you to find an inch of space without some sort of evidence of human life present. There are many desolute and somewhat deserted areas on Earth in which we could spread our population out and make it a seemingly less crowded world. Antarctica? Africa? Parts of Asia? All seemingly good ideas. Now, I'm not saying that we should inhabit all parts of Earth and ruin many of its wonders and beauty with the pollution of human populations. And I also know that this solution could not possibly work for over a century. However, I do think it's something to think about until man can actually figure out a way to spread our kind out over the universe.