- You have seen that in many areas of the world, water is already one of the most important constraints on the quality of life, and by the middle of this century, almost everyone agrees that there will be 2 billion more people on the planet. At the same time, climate change will reduce the amount of precipitation in some areas, while others will receive more precipitation. Given these facts, how will we meet the water needs of 9 billion people by the middle of the century?
If in the year 2050 we have 9 billion people on this planet and we still rely on fossil fuels as our primary form of energy, we will be on a unsustainable trajectory. I have no scientific means of guessing what the world will be like. More likely than not we’ll be fighting over the scarce resource of water and employing very drastic measures to ensure sustainability. Thankfully some very smart people are already working on this. http://www.shell.com/media/speeches-and-articles/2012/meeting-the-needs-of-9-billion-people.html
Ronald Johnson is a professor here at Penn State. He teaches business ethics. He really has a passion for sustainability. In his class was actually the first time I heard that term. He had lots of videos in his class covering sustainability,like solar panels in grassy fields where the grass was cut by goats. If we switch every fossil fuel to a renewable one, we can probably increase how long our planet can last.
Of course I have sincere doubts about our planet ever supporting 9 billion people. Likely a major plague or war will deplete a significant portion of the planet’s population. If that happens, our resources would probably last longer.