Today, I attended a cafe sci talk by leading scientist Professor Guy Poppy, about the impending problem of population growth and the need to preserve our planet. This has provided a problem, as the earth only has a certain amount of land suitable for arable growth. This land is needed to grow crops to feed the growing population and to grow crops to make bio fuels, which would reduce carbon emissions, and thus global warming, but both causes can not be accomodated fully at the same time.
Global Population
The current population stands at 7,018,103,164, and this is estimated to increase to 9.2 billion by 2050. Nearly half of the worlds population is in India and China alone. This drastic influx in the amount of people on the earth means that there are more mouths to feed, but the same amount of land to grow crops on as before.
BioFuels
Biofuels are a cleaner fuel, that reduce carbon emissions escaping into the atmosphere. This reduces the greenhouse gases and thus slows the rate of global warming, which would destroy the planet. However, Biofuels need arable land to grow.
This presents a dilemma. Which do we value more? Human life in our lifetime? Or the future of our planet and future generations?
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