World Population

If there's an environmental gorilla in the room, it's the world's rapidly expanding population. Haven't heard of this one? That's because even environmental groups shy away from facing it head-on because there are no obvious easy solutions. Today, the world's population is 6.61 billion -- 25% more than 17 years ago, which was nearly 35% more than 17 years before that.

Within another 17 years, the world's population will have increased again -- by an estimated 20% -- to 7.9 billion people. In some respects, this is a remarkable success story. Around the world, people are living longer, healthier lives in greater comfort than at any time in human history. But at what cost to the rest of the planet? Scientists say we are in the midst of causing the world's sixth great extinction because we are destroying so much of the world's natural habitat in the search of food, shelter and luxuries at an unprecedented scale. And consider that in 2007, the world passed an unusual milestone: For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in the countryside.

Those cities will grow bigger, and they will rely on the country to provide them with enough food and other natural resources to survive. That demand could lead to continued loss of wildlife -- including rare and endangered species -- and to the depletion of the critical natural assets that clean our air, provide us clean water and sustain our food supply. Simply put, many believe the world has a set amount to give, and we're taking far more than it can provide. To what extent increased efficiency and technological innovation will allow us to live prosperously and continue to increase our population -- without depleting the earth that sustains us -- is a huge question. We're conducting that experiment on our home planet as we speak.

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