Great-Grandfathers: Alex Woliver (1874-1954) left; Isaac Baker (1877-1962) right
This photograph circa 1930 of two of my great-grandfathers is the catalyst for this blog post.
What do I know about these men? Unfortunately, almost nothing.
This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
-William Shakespeare
Really? How bleak. When I consider my own legacy, I want my descendants (four generations from now and beyond) to have some idea of who I am, the principles on which I stand, and what I find of interest and perhaps significant. Hopefully, my blog posts will provide them some clues. But will this digital format still be available? Time will tell.
What have Alex and Isaac left me? Plenty! Their genes.
In his 2019 book, The Body, Bill Bryson posits, “For you to be here now, every one of your ancestors had to successfully pass on its genetic material to a new generation before being snuffed out or otherwise sidetracked from the procreative process. All of the components of the genome have one single-minded purpose—to keep the line of your existence going.”
Voila! Immortality.
Some—Plan for Immortality—
Some—Wager on Time—
Some—Reflect on Lineage—
I—Ponder the Sublime.
CPW after Dickinson
But let’s turn our attention from my legacy to a broader issue: population control.
A glimpse of my paternal family tree from the time the photo of my great-grandfathers was taken until the present shows that they "sired": four children; four grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and approximately 12 great-great-grandchildren.
...the growth of most populations depends at least in part on the available resources in their environments. To model more realistic population growth, scientists developed the logistic growth model, which illustrates how a population may increase exponentially until it reaches the carrying capacity of its environment. When a population’s number reaches the carrying capacity, population growth slows down or stops altogether. [The following] figure illustrates the logistic growth model.
Observing this exponential growth, the following question is raised: What is our moral obligation to population explosion?
At the conclusion of his book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, author Bill Bryson states, “If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-and by “we” I mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have barely begun to grasp.
We have arrived at this position of eminence in a stunningly short time. Behaviorally modern human beings-that is, people who can speak and make art and organize complex activities-have existed for only about 0.0001 percent of Earth’s history. But surviving for even that little while has required a nearly endless string of good fortune.
We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end. And that, almost certainly, will require a good deal more than lucky breaks.”
Researchers speculate that “A ‘biological annihilation’ of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history is under way and is more severe than previously feared.
Scientists analyzed both common and rare species and found billions of regional or local populations have been lost. They blame human overpopulation and overconsumption for the crisis and warn that it threatens the survival of human civilization, with just a short window of time in which to act.” (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/10/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-event-already-underway-scientists-warn)
In a 2017 article written by Indian writer, Bishnu Mahato, he posits that the causes of population explosion are due to ignorance, illiteracy, and superstition among the uneducated of India, and also blames religious beliefs that oppose birth control.
From a July, 2020 CNN report:
(CNN) It took thousands of years for the global population to hit 5 billion, which happened in 1987. Some 32 years later, we're closing in on 8 billion.
This explosive growth concerns leaders at the United Nations, who created World Population Day in 1989 to raise awareness about the problems caused by overpopulation. The holiday is observed annually on July 11.
The planet's population today is 7.7 billion. How mind-bogglingly huge is that number? If you started now and ticked off 7.7 billion seconds, you wouldn't be done until the year 2263.
And by 2050, the world is projected to add another 2 billion people.
The world's population is likely to peak at 9.7 billion in 2064, and then decline to about 8.8 billion by the end of the century, as women get better access to education and contraception, a new study has found.
In conclusion, we as citizens of the Earth must: 1) educate ourselves in order to make informed decisions about our propagation; 2) take immediate action to protect our environment against global catastrophe; and 3) change longstanding religious dogma and practice that goes contrary to advances in scientific discovery.
BREAKING NEWS
A report from Axios states: "New data from the CDC indicates the U.S. had just 58.2 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2019, a 1% decline from the previous year and the lowest level since 1984.
Overall population in the U.S. increased by just 0.4% in 2020 to 329 million — the lowest growth rate since at least 1900.
The Brookings Institution predicts the U.S. could experience 300,000 fewer births this year because of the wider effects of COVID-19.
CPW
P.S. The link below as added on 3/8/21
Comments