7 Billion and Counting…

On 31^st October, 2011, the world celebrated the birth of 7 billionth human. It is astonishing to know that while we took 130 years to reach from 1 to 2 billion, only 12 years were taken to reach from 6 to 7 billion mark! At present, on an average 5 humans take birth per second and 2 die. Thus we are increasing at 3 persons/sec on an average! As United Nations didn’t decided who the 7 billionth child would be, several babies including Nargis Yadav of Uttar Pradesh are being hailed as 7 billionth by different countries around the world.

Just a week before, on 25^th October, Javan Vietnamese Rhino became extinct in wild. The lone male survivor was killed by poachers. While humans increase by 3 per second, it is sad to know that we lose about 50-72 species everyday! Both the birthrate of humans and extinction rate of animal and plant species are highest at present.

But what does this birth signify for us? It is interesting to know that according to a research all humans standing shoulder to shoulder would fit in the city of Los Angeles! Thus there is definitely no space crunch. Then, what is the problem with booming population? The problem is not lack of resource or space. It is the uneven distribution and improper, unjustifiable use of them. Thus while earth is capable of sustaining 7 billion humans, we feel scarcity because either we are not satisfied with what we have, or our rightful resources are being wasted by some other round the globe. 5% of the world population uses 23% energy. An average American uses 100 gallons of water everyday. 20% of world population uses 80% of its resources etc. Therefore, with the increase in population we see increasing gap in rich and poor, fights for land and resources resulting in mass murders and genocide (like in Rwanda), conflicts between man and wild, ever deteriorating forests and environment etc.

Who suffers from all this? We may want to believe that only animals and plants are affected and we can do without them, but we are terribly wrong. Whole ecosystem is tangled and connected to each other in such a way that the extinction of microscopic zoo-planktons would lead to the extinction of Blue Whale, the biggest animal found on earth, ever! Its not only about the beauty of wild or the survival of a certain species anymore. Its about life. Because no matter what we may believe humans can not and would not survive the natural catastrophe as big as say, an explosion of super volcano like Yellowstone, or collision of a heavenly body (like the meteor that extinct dinosaurs 6 crore years ago). Of all the species on earth, we are the most vulnerable; even to minor temperature changes. We can’t hibernate, can’t fly, don’t have fur to survive cold, can’t run fast due to 2 legs, don’t have big nails or sharp teeth to kill etc. In short, we simply can’t survive beyond our comfort zone. Let alone a major catastrophe; just imagine your day without electricity. Scientists fear what would happen if the solar flares DO hit earth in 2012 as predicted. Though it will not be the end of world, but it certainly would be the end of electricity for days, months or maybe years.

So, the hope for life would be the resilient animal species. The resilient and easily adaptable animal species are the torch-bearer of life on earth for millions of years. An example is crocodile that we kill and wear so proudly. Crocodiles used to hunt even dinosaurs and when that meteor struck earth, they survived by adapting themselves to extremely cold temperatures resulting from sulphur clouds that hid sun for years. Thus crocodiles are living in this world for more than 60 million years and are more precious to earth than we are. But, who cares for this damned creature? We just want their skins to proudly wear them. In an existence of mere 200,000 years, we have done more harm to life on earth than any other species had ever done, collectively! And we must not forget that we are relatively new to the planet and too young in its history of 4.5 billion years. Dinosaurs lived this world for more than 170 million years peacefully! 

So while we can celebrate this 7 billionth birth, we must not forget our true role in planet earth. We are the biggest stakeholders of a wonderful phenomenon called life and the existence of life depends on what we do and how we do it. Lets learn to preserve and share with humans and animals as well, because life is much better and beautiful with them. What’s at stake is a tiny speck, a dot-like sphere in the Universe, that we call EARTH! Lets save it!