RE: Will humans go extinct in 100 years?
The eventual extinction of mankind is predicated on three fallacious assumptions:
1) As world population increases, we find ourselves with no places to go thus having to fight over existing, limited resources and
2) Freshwater is a limited resource
3) We are not skillful or dedicated enough to remediate these problems ""in time"....
These are not even remotely true. Less than 24% of the Earth's livable area is occupied and of that, only 8% is farmed intensively but very inefficiently. If we look at oceans (which represent 60% of the Earth's surface) and unoccupied but very fertile available land, (about 19% of Earth's surface) like the Canadian and Russian arboreal forests, the Sub-Sahara deserts (Israel turned their country into one of the world's greatest sellers of produce from a barren desert-the Negev) and the enormous potential of Greenland (which is heating up and producing record crop yields), to name a few, then we see there is hope.
The amount of freshwater is relatively constant on Earth. We lose about .000000009% of our actual reserves each year from evaporation into space (the actual precise amount is not known) but the rest is recycled very effectively by our climatic system. With proper freshwater management and planning, we can have more than enough water for everyone. The current glacial melt and icebergs contain about 12% of the Freshwater consumed everyday worldwide and 3rd world countries have shown that freshwater management doesn't need high technology to support it, just basic good practices and intelligent consumption.
Our real challenges are; keeping these resources OUT of the hands of greedy, monopolistic political and financial barons who will incite conflicts and encourage scarcity in the interest of self-enrichment and developing a worldwide, enforceable conscience and will to provide everyone with affordable and accessible safe water, healthy food, sustainable and environmentally friendly housing and climates, decent medical programs, worthwhile education and meaningful work. Strangely enough, the above needs represent an enormous opportunity to develop careers and jobs that provide people with exactly that! Obama is right when he says that the future is Green. We don't need to go into space, we need to solve these issues here on Earth first.
