A World of 7 Billion

Before the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2011, planet earth will have on board 7 billion humans. Seven billion is so difficult to grasp. The rate of adding people to planet earth is 4 people every second, 262 every minute and 15,735 every hour. There’s no doubt that people have an impact on the planet and its natural systems of life. How we interact with these systems of life directly impacts the very things that support our lives – air, water and soil. Our use of fossil fuel energy has had a tremendous impact on the environment. One only needs to look back at the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Gulf oil spill and most recently the Yellowstone River oil spill.

With an increasing population, comes an increase in use of fossil fuel energy and material resources. How we use energy and materials will determine what kind of planet we leave our children and future generations.

Population Connection has launched a project ‘World of 7 Billion.’ Since 1975, they have developed age-appropriate, value-neutral curricula to complement students’ science and social science instruction about human population trends and their impacts on natural resources, environmental quality and human well-being. Classroom activities are relevant to national and state-level content standards and all are matched to the content standards for a range of subject areas.

To assess these materials visit www.worldof7billion.org.