Posted on 03/19/2009 10:56:41 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned.
By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington said.
Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he told a conference in London.
Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he added.
'Complacent'
"It's a perfect storm," Prof Beddington told the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.
"There's not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don't tackle these problems."
Prof Beddington said the looming crisis would match the current one in the banking sector.
"My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages," he said.
"We're relatively fortunate in the UK; there may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise."
The United Nations Environment Programme predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I seriously believe this planet could handle 50 billion people.
The only thing stopping it would be politics, which is the cause of most famines, etc. today.
Ah..... for the good old days. When hacks like these were burned at the stake....
Remember in the early 70’s the population explostion was gonna do us in before the turn of the century?
Now countries are begging their citizens to have more kids.
No way! we will all be happily making our our power from the wind. We’ll be eating leaves and the government will do everything for us....life will be perfect...**Sigh**
Gosh, 2030 I will be 62 and working! Retirement will be pushed back until your 127
Let see I’ll be 87, maybe if still here I guess I should start preparing.
yes, another crisis must be created to and avert attention to the CRISIS AT HAND NOW in the form of our current administration and their desire to destroy America as we know it.
have you noticed that nearly EVERY frigging show on the animal planet or discovery now ends with some type of globull warming message?
I’m sick to death of this and wondering who stands to make money off this scam.
The experts in our society can predict events twenty years out but failed to see the stock market crash coming.
Makes you a little skeptical.
“Quick everyone, panic!”
Bingo!
It takes the vantage point of age to be able to deal with this crap. I remember when acid rain and an ice age were going to doom us. In the 1970s we were told by the year 2000 a person would need protective gear against rain. And the population explosion? It likely would doom us all by 2000.
It’s just like when the stock market has bad times, the doom and gloomers predict depression. They may be right this time, but I’ve lived through about 10 predicted depressions that never materialized.
There are people who will do anything to make a buck in all forms of human endeavor.
If it's unpredictable, how do we know it will be an "exacerbation"?
When these doomsdayers have conventions, it must be kind of embarrassing to receive the “lifetime achievement award.”
“We are honored tonight to present this award to Mr. Smith. For the past fifty years, Mr. Smith has been tirelessly educating people about how we are ten years away from total collapse.”
Is this the same yahoo who swore we’d all starve to death by 1980, that there would be a full-scale nuclear war in the 90’s, and that every computer, and computer-based thingamajiggy would fail on 01/01/00?
Do I get points for being right?
Wow. Somebody looking at population figures and predicting future shortages. How novel. Combining the population bomb with the warming scare is pure genius. This man deserves a Nobel for showing such courage and bucking the establishment with this dire warning.
The strong will survive,.......................... unless gov’t robs them to prop up the weak.
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