2.2 kids squared

I’ve spent the last few nights reading ‘The universe in a nutshell’ by Stephen Hawking. It’s a ‘heavy’ bedtime book, but I digress. In one of the chapters, Hawking talks about the exponential population explosion that’s happened in the last 1000 years. He brings up his concern that;

By year 2600 the Earth’s population will be standing shoulder to shoulder and the amount of electricity we use would make the earth glow hot.

Now Hawking has been often compared to the likes of Einstein and Newton when it comes to his understanding of the universe. So, when he makes his concerns for the future of humankind known, it carries a little more weight in my mind then some greenhouse gas study picked up by the associated press.

But it seems that this idea may be wrong. This morning I caught an article by Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth catalog, that brings to light the U.N.’s data on population.

Human population is leveling off rapidly, even precipitously, in developed countries, with the rest of the world soon to follow. Most environmentalists still haven’t got the word. Worldwide, birthrates are in free fall. Around one-third of countries now have birthrates below replacement level (2.1 children per woman) and sinking. Nowhere does the downward trend show signs of leveling off.

He goes on to suggest embracing Nuclear power such as the same way we embraced clean automobiles. We need cars, lets make clean cars. We need power, let’s get the cleanest power per dollar. Check it out:
Environmental Heresies – By Stewart Brand

One thought on “2.2 kids squared

  1. You might be interested to know that Stewart Brand has recently endorsed a techno-thriller novel about the American nuclear power industry, written by a longtime nuclear engineer (me). This book provides an entertaining and accurate portrait of the nuclear industry today and how a nuclear accident would be handled. It is called “Rad Decision”, and is currently running as a serial at RadDecision.blogspot.com. There is no cost to readers.

    All sides of the nuclear power debate will find items to like, and dislike, within Rad Decision. I’m not sure myself what the future of nuclear energy should be. What I am sure of is that we will make better decisions if we understand what nuclear energy is right now.

    James Aach
    http:RadDecision.blogspot.com

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