To Understand 7 Billion, Think Locally

By Joe Guzzardi
October 31, 2011

Wrapping our minds around the concept of 7 billion people, the earth’s population, is tough. Even though the sum is liberally tossed around in everyday language, a billion of anything is beyond comprehension. A billion minutes ago would put us back into the time of Christ; a billion hours was 115,000 years ago and a billion days is the equivalent of three million years.

I can understand why so many laymen ignore population issues, although I wish they wouldn’t. The numbers are staggeringly high, the problem is weighty— seemingly beyond correction—and the worst of overpopulation’s consequences won’t occur until our generation has passed. Americans, and especially politicians, are great at looking the other way and passing the toughest problems down the line.

If, however, instead of trying to grasp 7 billion we would concentrate on our own infinitely smaller communities, we might develop a clearer picture of what lies ahead.

I’ll focus on Lodi, once a small agricultural community in California’s San Joaquin Valley where I lived from 1986 to 2008. The population projections in terms of growth percentage and the conclusions I draw from Lodi’s continued decline in the quality of life would probably apply in your town too.

Twenty-five years ago, Lodi’s population was 52,000; today, it’s 62,000. To accommodate what may strike some as relatively modest growth, acres of vineyards were paved over to build more roads, schools, box stores and housing developments.

Lodi’s growth reflected California’s overall population increases. In 1990, the state had nearly 30 million residents; today, 39 million. Up and down the state, the same ineffective short-term band aide solutions failed. While officials authorized more and more of everything, the California lifestyle became less and less enjoyable.

A year ago, the Lodi News-Sentinel provided residents a chance to peer into 2040 by analyzing what one of the town’s major thoroughfares will look like three decades from today. Now a two lane road that runs along Lodi’s south side, Harney Lane will eventually expand to four lanes. In the process of building a major east-west connector to Highway 99, plans for the city to acquire 47 pieces of private property are under way. In the interim, adjoining roads on the east and west side of Harney Lane will be widened. Also under consideration is an overpass.

During the years that Harney Lane will be expanded, thousands of commuters who travel along that route on their way to the major highways that lead north to Sacramento or south to Stockton will be stuck in day long bumper to bumper tie ups.

Then, the ultimate irony, thirty years from now when the project is complete, Lodi will have another 10,000 or so people and the entire never-ending process of trying to catch up with growth will have to repeat itself.

Anyone thinking about addressing the nation’s massive problems of traffic congestion, air pollution, increasing water and energy demands, conversion of prime agricultural land, loss of wildlife habitat and open space, housing affordability, school overcrowding and a host of other critical issues, must forthrightly address over-population if they hope to make any headway.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns, mostly about immigration and related social issues, since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns are syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. Contact him at [email protected].