Limited Resources are Becoming... Limited

Have you been planning on going on a diet? Pretty soon, you may not have a choice. One of the topics of Thomas L. Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded  is the increasing population of the world. Just 50 years ago the entire population was around 3 billion people. Today, it is more than double that. Furthermore, scientists predict that in 2050 the world population will be roughly at 9.2 billion. What happens when a steadily increasing population meets a steadily dwindling supply of resources? Do we really want to find out? Mark Bittman of the New York Times has this to say about Julian Cribb's new book The Coming Famine:

Like many other experts, he argues that we have passed the peak of oil production, and it’s all downhill from now on. He then presents evidence that we have passed the peaks for water, fertilizer and land, and that we will all soon be made painfully aware that we have passed it for food, as wealthy nations experience shortages and rising prices, and poorer ones starve.

This is a truly scary concept that one day, there simply will not be enough resources in the world to support the growing population. It is crucial to the survival of the human race that we do not get to that point. The only way to achieve this goal is to change our habits. The main problem is not the rise in population, but the over consumption that has become daily life for many people. After WWII, a scientific revolution occurred in which many new farming technologies were discovered. Cribb concludes that with the proper funding, another such revolution could occur. Even more important however, is that people quit their bad habits of over consumption. Combining these two things could just be the answer to one of the world's most pressing problems.