New Year’s Resolution
It is the custom at the beginning of a new year to reflect on the past and resolve to do better in the next year. In a sense, it is a time to stop and look at the big picture. With that thought in mind, I have collected some numbers that help show the big picture for the planet -- where we are with population, and with fisheries, forests, grain, and fresh water. These are the critical resources for humanity because there are no economical substitutes for some of them - fish and forests, and no substitutes at all for others - grain and fresh water. While these statistics may look grim, there are signs of hope, both in slowing population growth and in the fact that we are starting to measure these resources we previously took for granted. Use this knowledge to make a New Year's Eve resolution for the planet - support family planning and the education of girls, reconsider ocean fish in your diet (or your pet's diet), reduce your use of paper and wood, or reduce meat in your diet (1 lb of meat requires 10 lbs of grain). To conserve freshwater, reduce paper use (it requires a lot of water to make paper) and reduce meat (each lb of grain takes 1000 lbs of water) as well as conserving water around your home. Just be sure to start with a resolution you can keep and then build on that. Happy New Year!
POPULATION (Global Population Clock) Mid-year estimates
1970 3.35 billion 2.08% annual growth
1980 4.46 billion 1.70% annual growth
1990 5.28 billion 1.56% annual growth
2000 6.08 billion 1.26% annual growth
2001 6.16 billion 1.24% annual growth (an additional 76 million new lives every year)
FISHERIES (FAO 1999) 16 regions, 590 "stocks", information available on 441
Under exploited - 4%, Moderately exploited - 21%: 25% stocks can sustain increased fishing
Fully exploited - 47% : 47% stocks can continue at current rates of fishing
Over exploited -18%, Depleted - 9%, Recovering -1%: 28% of stocks need fishing reduced or ended
FORESTS (World Resources 1998/99) Both Natural and Plantation Forests
1990 -- 3.511 billion hectares 1995 -- 3.454 billion hectares down 1.6% in five years
GLOBAL GRAIN HARVESTS (USDA)
1970 1.079 billion tons 0.322 tons per capita
1980 1.430 billion tons 32.5% increase 0.321 tons per capita
1990 1.769 billion tons 23.7% increase 0.335 tons per capita
2000 1.835 billion tons 3.7% increase 0.302 tons per capita
2001 1.841 billion tons 0.298 tons per capita (11% decline from 90's)
FRESHWATER I (World Resources 1998/99) Annual Renewable Water Resources (ARWR) population x ann per captia use of 1700 cubic m ARWR % ARWR
Africa 778,484,000 1,323 cubic km 3,996 cubic km 33%
Europe 729,406,000 1,240 cubic km 6,234 cubic km 20%
North America 304,078,000 517 cubic km 5,309 cubic km 10%
South America 331,889,000 564 cubic km 1,507 cubic km 37%
Asia 3,588,877,000 6,101 cubic km 13,207 cubic km 46%
FRESHWATER II (State of the World 2000) Ground Water annual overdraft (rate that withdrawals exceed natural recharge rate) of major aquifers in India, China, U.S., North Africa, Saudi Arabia - 163.6 billion cubic meters per year. Most of the withdrawals are used for irrigated agriculture. Continued depletion of aquifers will seriously affect grain production in the future.
BioRegional Quiz: Do all missouri snakes lay eggs?
Job Opportunity: WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST with Missouri Dept. of Conservation. Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree in Wildlife Management or closely-related subjects and one (1) year experience in wildlife work. Duties include planing and implementing wildlife management programs on state-owned conservation areas; planing agricultural crop programs; maintaining native grasses, food plots; assisting to provide technical advice to landowners; prepare articles for publications; and other duties as required. Submit application for employment the department’s Human Resources Division, P. O. Box 180, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102.
Special Events/Classes/Programs/Talks:
MU ORGANIZATIONAL MEETINGS AND CONTACT INFORMATION:
Answer to BioRegional Quiz: Water snakes, garter snakes, brown snakes, copperheads, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes all retain their young until they are completely developed. All other Missouri snakes lay eggs.
Feedback - Got an opinion about something we’ve written, or about a current environmental issue? If we have space, we will consider publishing it; submit it by email (envstudy@showme.missouri.edu), snail mail (Environmental Studies, 211 Lowry Memorial Union, MU, Columbia MO 65211), or call Jan Weaver to talk about it (882-7116). MU Environmental Network News is published by MU’s Environmental Studies Initiative. All opinions expressed are the responsibility of the editor. Any part of this newsletter may be copied for distribution but please give us credit.