Population Matters

I  watched Chris Packham's Horizon documentary last night.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dl6q

There are 7.7 billion people in the world currently. By 2050 there will be 10 billion.

The statistics in 2019 for Megacities are stunningly frightening.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/the-worlds-33-megacities/ar-BBUaR3v
Tokyo is the biggest megacity with 37.5 million people.
Delhi is next with 28.5 million
Shanghai has 25.6 million
Sao Paulo in Brazil has 21.7 million & is literally running out of water.

I had been reasonably unconcerned about the huge increase in world population in my lifetime, having watched Hans Roslings "Don't Panic" documentary around 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=FACK2knC08E

Now I can see that world population is as big an issue as climate change. Yet it is hardly mentioned. It is the elephant in the room. The earth simply cannot sustain population growth & the environmental damage it causes. Biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, deforestation, water and food shortage are all exacerbated by population growth. Farming is literally destroying eco systems - land, habitats, water, forests, animals...

So I have joined Population Matters. 
https://populationmatters.org/
It took until the early 1800s for the world population to reach one billion. Now we add a billion every 12-15 years

 

I live in Oxford, certainly not a Megacity, & I avoid going into the city because of the numbers of people on the streets. Air pollution is an issue - Oxford is just about compliant now with E U requirements of annual average NO2 levels in towns and cities to below 40µg/m3. I am seriously considering where would be a safer place to live & what resources I would need for the next decades of my life - If I live into my 90's, as is perfectly possible. That is one of the problems, we are living much longer than resources can keep up with.

There are huge benefits to living in a city, but the downsides are significant. We need to tackle the impact of over population. We have the means. It needs political will. Population growth can be slowed, stopped and reversed through actions which enhance global justice and improve people's lives. One is educating & empowering women.

https://populationmatters.org/solutions