Can Earth Handle Its Projected Population of 11 Billion People?

The human population is exploding. Earlier this year, the United Nations released a new report that said the global population was on pace to reach 11 billion people by the end of the century — a full 800 million more people than were expected by 2100 (with a range between 9 million and 13 million), and a whopping 4 billion more than call Earth home todayThe bump in the predicted number was made in part because birthrates in sub-Saharan Africa are not dropping as fast as predicted.

All of those people mean a lot of extra mouths to feed, more strain on water supplies, a lot more trash and human waste to put somewhere and an increased threat of a major deadly global pandemic, among other problems. Read more...