The world is causing #GlobalWarming through excessive #CO2 #emissions: The #CarbonFootprint, which equals CF per person multiplied by #population, of the current (2016) world population of 7.5 billion uses the carbon sequestration capacity of 2.4 Earths.
The maximum #sustainable (“#CarbonNeutral”) #population at our current CF per person is only 3.1 billion. The maximum that would give everyone the current #QualityOfLife in the US, as measured by the UN’s #HumanDevelopmentIndex, is only 2 billion.
Since the start of CF tracking (1961), 64% of our #growth in CF has been caused by #population growth and only 36% by growth in personal #emissions (CF per person).
Projecting the same decreases in CF per person and in carbon sequestration capacity (forest lands) since 2010 forward to 2060, the CF will still use 2.4 Earths. It would be smaller if not for projected #population #growth to 10.2 billion.
And that assumes that fertility rates in countries with higher fertility rates will decline; the UN projects world #population to grow to 11.7 billion by 2060 if they don’t.
We could become almost #CarbonNeutral by 2060 if we voluntarily reduce our #population to its 1970 size of 3.7 billion. That means encouraging countries with higher fertility rates to reduce their fertility rates below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman.
We have an overdue moral obligation to our descendants to stop and ultimately reverse our #population #growth until our world is #CarbonNeutral.
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