Monday, October 31, 2011

University of North Carolina Wilmington associate professor Brian Arbogast was recently on America Tonight with Kate Delaney. Arbogast focused the issue of our exploding world population into terms of biodiversity.

On Monday, Oct. 31 at 10:30 a.m. EST, the world population reached 7 billion people. While this means many things for the human race, it also has terrifying repercussions for all the species on Earth. With the population rising, humans will need more space, making the world a less and less habitable place for mammals and other species, according to Arbogast.

With 7 billion people living on the Earth, the question becomes whether the human race be able to sustain itself. The human race's numbers have boomed in the last 200 years, moving from 1 billion in the 1800s, doubling to 2 billion by 1930 and hitting the 6 billion mark in 1999. Arbogast, who is hopeful about the future in spite of these new statistics, mentioned it's important for the human race to continually plan for the future and be ready to deal with 10 billion people worldwide in the next 50 years.

Dealing with this number will be "challenging, but not hopeless," he said, and cites innovation as a human characteristic that will prove to save both our species and the species of other animals.

The more people that are on this planet, the more resources will be needed, with one of the main resources being land. In the tropical rain forests like the ones Arbogast studies in Ecuador, a single acre can hold up to 1,000 species of trees. Humans can destroy that diversity in a few days to create a grazing field for cows.

But, Arbogast points out, it's nice to see that countries like Ecuador, which is the most biodiverse place for its size on the planet, are having conversations about preserving land and species rather than drilling for oil or cutting down the forests.

To listen to the interview during or after the broadcast, visit www.americatonight.net.

Media Contact:
William Davis, UNCW Marketing and Communications, 910.962.2654 or davisw@uncw.edu