No man is an island
I remember seeing on John Craven’s Newsround at some point in the 1970’s that you could fit the entire population of the world on the Isle of Wight, (although if you ever tried it, John warned, the island would probably sink under the weight).
But it was always a reassuring thought, somehow.
It seems that is no longer the case – nor has it been for some time . As we pass the 7 billion mark, you’d now need to throw in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and all the little Scottish ones too.
Nonetheless, it puts all the scare stories about overpopulation into a useful perspective. OK, 7 billion is a lot, but at the risk of being simplistic, as long as they’re spread around a bit, we can manage. And maybe be a smidge more careful about how we resource the food and energy requirements of all these people.
Which may cost money. As it happens, however, one of the 7 billion is a Mexican bloke none of us have ever heard of who, according to Forbes , could hand over a ten dollar bill to each and every one of his fellow humans and still have $4 billion left over to play around with.
Meanwhile average GDP per capita in the Congo is $300 per year.
And surely this is the real problem about this planet today. There aren’t too many people, and – despite all the current Euro shenanigans – there is enough money. The real issue isn’t quantity – whether money or people or resources. It’s just a matter of distribution.