Thanks Earth, You Feed and Nurture 7 Billion Humans Everyday, Oct 31, 2011.

Our planet, earth, has provided protection to us against all adversity, making us free thinkers who sit at the top of the intellectual chain. Thousands of years ago we recognised our supremacy on our planet earth. We lived in groups. Each group, in order to survive, we engaged in wars, revolted and massacred each other, exposing man’s ultimate inhumanity to man. Famine and natural disasters, because it created economic and nutritional hardship it has horned our instincts to cope with hash climatic and environmental conditions. We have been plagued by common source epidemics, arising from contaminated food or drink and from one infected individual to another. Infections, transmitted by fleas, mosquitoes, ticks and other insect vector have decimated our populations. Man’s experiences are unique it is filled with conflict and harmony. Over 150 thousand years ago, our migration restarted across Africa, and it has been a constant struggle between our ideas, our principles and each other.

The effects of two World Wars in the 20^th century caused unprecedented casualties and destruction. The numbers killed in these wars are estimated to be between 60 and 100 million people. There were earlier wars. The An Lushan Rebellion in China, 755-763 in the 8^th century caused the deaths of an estimated 36 million people, (14%) of the world’s population at the time. The Mongol Conquest of East Asia, East Europe and West Asia accounted for an estimated 60 million deaths. In 1950 during the Korean War communist sympathizer, civilians or prisoners were killed by South Korean troops. The amount of people estimated to be 100,000 to 1.2 million. Today war continues in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. War is a violent activity, waged by men and women in groups, attempting to defeat each other.

Famine has been with mankind throughout his history. The Bengal Famine of 1770 affected the entire Gangetic plain of India. This famine is estimated to have caused the deaths of 10 million people. The Chalisa Famine of 1783-84 in South Asia followed unusual El Nino events that began in 1780, causing the deaths of 11 million people. Since mid-July 2011, a severe drought has been affecting the entire East Africa region. On July 20, 2011, the United Nations officially declared famine in two regions in southern Somalia. This is the first time in thirty years that a famine has been declared by the United Nations. Famine causes widespread scarcity of food and other resources. This phenomenon is usually accompanied by malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic resulting in increased mortality. The earth is resilent, with time and conservative human input it regenerates its environment.

Fatal epidemics, like the bubonic plague or Black Plague killed an estimated 70 million people in the 14 century. In 1918 a Flu pandemic, killed between 50 and 100 million, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Modern times we have to deal with sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. It can be spread by contact with infected blood, from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding. It can take years to weaken your immune system to the point that you have AIDS. The HIV/AIDS pandemic, from 1981 to present has taken the lives of more than 25 million people. Natural disasters caused by drought, earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruption and tsunami have contributed its share in spreading epidemics. Natural disasters have contributed to profound amounts of human deaths on our planet.

The journey began about 2.4 million years ago. In Africa we settled and about 120,000 years ago we came into our own, Homo Sapiens. The modern human of today began to walk, his brain capacity increased, we began our journey of construction, invention and the use of tools. From Africa the world’s population dispersed into the Middle East, Europe and around the planet. In the past human survival depended on instinct. Modern man uses his intellect and in many ways his instincts, to progress against all possible unfavourable experiences.

Our future hinges on sustainable, environmental global development. With environmental degradation, habitats are destroyed, biodiversity is lost. This can occur naturally or through human processes, the largest areas of concern at present is the loss of rain forest, air pollution, smog, ozone depletion and the destruction of the marine environment. Distribution of resources has always been unequal, and will continue to be an issue now and into the future. The important factors that determine the amount of people that can be sustained on our planet in the future are food, drinking water, and energy.

By 2050, it is estimated that our earth’s population will be over 9 billion humans. The choice that today’s generation of young people make, by determining what they consume, the size of their families, this, will undoubtedly determine if Planet Earth will have 8, 9 or 10 billion humans. Our Earth has been good to us. When we waged war, faced famine, decimated by plagues and natural disasters our earth stood steadfast and waited on us. The planet earth is always under our feet, keeping our heads facing the stars. Is it like a parent preparing us for the next journey?