Monday 16 November 2009

Is Population-Growth and Sustainability a Reason Why Jesus Must Return in Our Generation?



A friend told me that he thinks Jesus has to come back in our generation because the earth won't be able to sustain the population growth that will occur if the world continues. But I wonder what population the earth can actually sustain?

Projections about sustainability have sometimes been very wrong, in the past! For example, when the first settlement at Botany Bay was struggling for survival in the late 1700s, men wondered whether the land surrounding Sydney was able to sustain the fledgling population of less than 3,000. [Look at the picture above, on the left]. But today, that very same land has become home to 4.5 million of some of the world's best-fed people! [Picture above, on the right] That means the land around Sydney has proven to be capable of sustaining a population that is 150,000% more than was originally thought possible. That's how wrong projections can be sometimes!

Sydney's population will keep growing, if the Lord tarries, and the people should survive just fine. The current population density of Sydney is only 2,058 people per square kilometre, compared with 43,079 people per square kilometre in Manila, Philippines - and yet the population of Manila is surviving just fine. So why couldn't Sydney's population survive just as well even if its population increases to the same density as Manila's?

If Sydney's population increases to the same density as Manila's - which would require a population growth of 2,093% to 95.2 million people, on today's figures - I'm sure the fortunate people of Sydney will still have equal chance of surviving, if they match the industriousness of their Manila counterparts.

And imagine if the population of every city in the world - not only Sydney's - increases to a population-density equal to Manila's. Since Manila's 38.55 square kilometres of land and its surrounding resource base is capable of sustaining 1,660,714 people - based on that model, other existing cities with a similar or better surrounding resource base also ought to be able to survive when they grow to have the same population density. Based on the number of exisiting cities in the world, that means the planet could easily sustain a population of multiple-trillions of people!

And that's without even factoring-in the certainty of improved technology over time, which always makes life easier. Improved technology improves sustainability.

Population-growth itself makes life easier. Economies always grow when the population grows. A fledgling population always made survival difficult, but a growing population multiplies the potential for prosperity.

Besides, God has promised to turn the wilderness into a fruitful field. He can cause water to spring up from the ground. In the Scriptures He has promised to do so. We are already seeing this happen in Israel and in parts of Australia. Once desolate blocks of land have become watered and fruitful and are once again attracting fauna.

Even if only existing cities grow to have the same population density as Manila, the earth's population will become multiple-trillions of people. How much bigger could the earth's population be if brand new cities which don't currently exist are founded! There is still so much unused space, so many unused resources on earth.

I've seen multiple-thousands of people living an entirely self-sufficient lifestyle on hilltops all over the southern Philippines - with plenty of room yet for population growth. And there are many more mountains and fields around the world besides those in the Philippines which as yet are almost completely uninhabited. They are surrounded with resource bases. There is so much available land in the earth. And the oceans are teeming with fish. The earth could probably sustain a population of many, many multiples of trillions or even more.

Concerns about sustainability are nothing new. In the early 1800s one author felt the earth was running out of resources, and he predicted a dire worldwide crisis by 1850. Needless to say the crisis didn't happen, and now individual countries have populations equal to what was the total world population in 1850 - the world's population has grown by 566.6% since then. He was wrong about sustainability then, and modern end-times pundits are probably wrong about sustainability now.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing the improvements on the planet as the population keeps growing!

So although Jesus could return in our generation - population growth isn't necessarily a reason why He must.

"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32).

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