Synopsis
Global population in 2010 is 6.8 billion people. By 2010, the number of people on Earth is projected to be 9.5+ billion with growth mainly in less developed and developing nations. This book focusses on the fact that we are not meeting the water, food, shelter, healthcare, and othe need of at least 1/3 of today'spopulation and how this may be achievable now and for significantly larger populations in a two generation future. Social, economic, environmental, and political stress will build up for governments, ecosystems, and existing populations as competition surges for peoples' basic needs and natural resources that fuel national economies. This book discusses practices that work to slow and stem population growth and alleviate stress by providing citizens with personal security, education, employment, and human and property rights. Likewise, it evaluates methodologies and technologies, some applicable now and others that are in development that can serve to diminish water and food deficiencies where they are acute, mainly in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Moreover, the book analyzes how adaptation to changing conditions and cultural norms can protect existing and future expanded populations from natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, floods, disease) and anthropogenic disasters (e.g., wars/conlicts, pollution, global warming). Lastly, the book examines attempts at international treaties and their probability of success by reducing national economic goals to some degree for the global good.
About the Author
Frederic R. Siegel is Professor Emeritus at George Washington University where he educated undergraduate and graduate students and did research in Geology/Earth and Environmental Sciences. He is the author of five books, has contributed chapters to several books, and has published scores of paper in scientific journals on projects in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Israel, China, and the Arctic. Professor Siegel was a Fulbright Scholar, a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institition, and has consulted with the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and mining and oil companies. This book reflects his keen interests in and assessments of solutions on how humankind can cope with problems of serving the needs of a global population that is expected to grow from 6.8 billion people today to 9.5+ billion people by 2050. For some of these problem areas (e.g., nutrition, natural hazards, and anthropogenic disasters), there are strategies that can lead to solutions. For others there are concepts that can come to fruition and provide near-future solutions to societal problems.
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