As of three days ago, there is now a staggering 7 billion people walking the Earth (and that’s not inclusive of all the other living creatures out there). Seven billion, wow, really? If you were to count from one to seven billion, it would take you 200 years. Seven billion people may seem like a lot of people but heap everyone together and would only fill up the city of Los Angeles.
These facts were obtained from the recent factual site released by National Geographic in celebration of our planet welcoming it 7 billionth human citizen. Now this news may not seem like a big deal, the increasing number of global citizens has a heavy impact on the Earth and the way we live. People are living longer while the world’s natural resources are quickly depleting as you read this.
The question is this: “Does every child out there have access to proper shelter, education, food and water?”
The reality is, the larger populations are located mostly in third world countries where basic necessities are scarce. It cannot be denied that the overwhelming increase of numbers is due to the lack of sexual education, economic inequality, gender inequality, harmful cultural norms and social marginalization, resulting in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted births.
Many who are born into poor families suffer throughout their lives both emotionally and physically whilst the age of childbirth is getting younger and younger each day. Only a small of percentage of us are born into healthy environments while the rest of the world fight for their survival on a daily basis.
There is a general law of population that states, should the population ever exceed the supply of food, factors like war, disease and famine will arrive to reduce the number of people. In recent years there have been various world epidemics like the tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, viruses and plagues. Are these all coincidences The modernization of healthcare has helped saved many lives
So is 7 billion a number to celebrate or wake up? Is it ever possible to achieve equality for each of these 7 billion people or will it all just be utopia in our minds?
