By the Numbers
When I was in high school, I was leaning heavily towards studying biochemistry, this was back in the early days of DNA and RNA research and I found it all quite fascinating. However, my math skills were not the greatest and they would have to vastly improve in order to help me to study for a science degree. This was readily resolved when I was offered an art scholarship to Utah State University, which was not too far away from where I lived. I chose the path of least resistance at the time and I did not regret it. But, in my spare time, I became an amateur science nerd and a large number of scientific interests became hobbies of mine.
In the last month, several scientific numbers became very important to the world, though largely ignored by almost everyone. First and foremost, Covid deaths rose to over a million in the U.S. Having suffered from Covid in December of 2020, I pay a great deal of attention to the progress of this epidemic. As of today 1,005,823 people have died and that is only the official count, the unofficial total may be as high as double that. Deaths from Covid around the world have topped 6.3 million and while the number of deaths has slowed, it has not stopped or gone completely away, nor will it ever.
By some counts, the world population has just recently grown to over 8 billion people. When I was born in 1951, the population of the world was 2.5 billion people. In the 70 years since, the number of human beings on this planet has tripled. However, the population rate is slowing and estimated growth is about 1.05%, equaling to 81 million people born per year. It is projected that there will be 9 billion people in 2037 and 10 billion people in 2057. The population of the U.S. is estimated to be 334,800,000 and is the 3rd largest country in the world behind India with 1.40 billion and China with 1.45 billion people.
In April, CO2 levels blew past 420 parts per million, (ppm). CO2 traps heat in our planet’s atmosphere and is contributing to the rise in global temperatures. 2021 and 2018 are tied for the 6th warmest years on record, the 8 warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 8 years. 2022 is expected to be only slightly warmer then 2021 but 2023 could set a new warmest record for the world. The daily seasonal level of CO2 as of June 9 is 421.33 ppm, and that is over 2.14 ppm from the same date last year. Global surface temperature for the planet is plus 1.12 degrees Centigrade, (2 degrees Fahrenheit), since 1880. It is expected to exceed 1.5C before the end of the decade.
You do not have to be a scientist to see that these numbers are frightening and ignoring any of these trending figures is dangerous to our continuing health and wellbeing. With so many other problems in the world it is hard to focus on what is important. Overall efforts are slowly making some progress, but will it be enough in the long run. (Enclosed cities are just one possible future according to one of my old painting ideas.)
