~~In Defense of Epidemics: Thoughts Post~~

Now THAT is an attention-catching title.

 

Let me explain, before all of you start looking at me strangely: The world is overpopulated. I mean VASTLY overpopulated. Here, let me start tossing a lot of statistics at you.

 

The current population of the world is 7.1-7.2 billion.

 

In 1900, 114 years ago, it was at 1.6 billion.

 

In 1950, 64 years ago, it was at 2.5 billion.

 

In 1986, 28 years ago, it was five billion.

 

In 2012, two years ago, it was seven billion.

 

Stop and think for a minute. In not too far over a human lifespan, we multiplied our population almost four and a half times. In a time span LESS than my nana's age, we almost tripled it. In a time span ONLY eleven years older than myself, we grew by around two billion people.

 

Stop and think for a minute. A lot of people out there, reading this little blog, are North American and European. We're the lucky. We have food, water, and--as long as you aren't American--reasonably good healthcare. We have internet, homes, and we aren't scared every day of being bombed. We have money and extra things--video games, television, cellphones, cars, good educations. We are really, really lucky. One of my online friends, who lives in Slovakia, was bombed every day for a week or more when he was growing up.

 

Compare OUR lives to his.

 

We prefer this life, don't we? We like our things. We complain about boyfriends and hand pains, while other people have it so very much worse.

 

So, everybody wants to live like us. We agree.

 

Have a question: How many planets do you think we would need for EVERYONE to live like a North American or a European?

 

It can't be too many, right? If we're smarter, maybe we would only need one....

 

I'm sorry, but that is so terribly wrong.

 

For everyone to have our nice things and our easy lives, we would need THREE EARTHS.

 

Look at the stars. Are there any livable planets close enough for it to matter? No, there aren't. I wish there was, but this is all we have....

 

And what we have is destroying everything.

 

We're running out of everything. Oil--how many things is it in? Makeup. Plastics. Cellphones. Fertilizers. Oil is in everything. America waged a war for oil--and I'm shuddering at how much oil they wasted in the attempt to get it.

 

If you want oil, what the hell is the point of using it to get more? Using lives?

 

Gas prices are going up. It's obvious.

 

Just how much oil is left in the world? When will the day come that the gas stations run dry?

 

It will probably come sooner than you think. And I'm afraid I'll be around when it does....

 

When they run dry, everything we do will need to change. Civilization will COLLAPSE. Say goodbye to the global village. Say goodbye to all our pretty things. We'll be going back to farming, and a more medieval way of life.

 

Oh wait. We won't.

 

How many farms have been replaced by houses and cities, hmm? How many of us have any clue how to run a farm? How many of us are actually built to survive in the wild?

 

COUNTRIES are making zombie plans.

 

Well, I've got a question for you: What's your plan for the end of it all? What will you do when the gas stations are empty, and the food can't be shipped to you anymore? Where will we go?

 

How many of us will die?

 

Probably a lot of us....

 

Without fossil fuels, the world will only support 1.6-2 billion people.

 

So, how many people need to die before we can actually sustain ourselves?

 

Five point five billion.

 

Hitler killed six million Jews, correct?

 

Our greed will kill almost a thousand times that amount.

 

I want to give you some homework, alright? Everyone, grab an apple. Look at it closely. This is your planet you hold in your hands. This apple is the Earth.

 

Now, take your apple and slice it into quarters. Set aside three of those—these are the oceans. The fourth quarter is our land.

 

Slice the land into half. This gives you two eighths of the earth—and now, set aside one of those. The one you set aside is inhospitable to humans: Deserts, polar areas, swamps, too high altitudes, too steep, or just too mountainous. Look at that teeny tiny piece.

 

That is your home.

 

Keep going. Slice it into quarters. Set aside three of those.

 

Look at that piece. 1/32^nd of that apple is now left. 1/32^nd of this earth. Think about it. Compare it to all that pile of apple you've just sliced off. It seems so tiny, isn't it? I bet you even struggled to slice it up so small. I hope you didn't cut yourself.

 

Now, one last step: Peel that little piece. Look at the peel.

 

This tiny bit of peel represents the surface of the earth. This tiny little piece is all the land we have to grow food on. In reality, it's not even five feet deep.

 

That is the land we have to live with. That is the land we live on. Without that tiny little bit…we would never have existed. That is all your food. That is everything to us.

 

We can't let the environment get worse. We have only a few years left.

 

In fifteen years, at our current rate, the earth's temperature will be raised by one more degree. You don't want to know what happens after that.

 

But, because this is me….I'm going to tell you anyways.

 

The weather's been really bad, right? Bad storms? Hurricanes? Freaky weather? Snow in places where snow shouldn't be? Everything's getting a bit weirder? Getting a bit worse?

 

Unless we change our ways by 2029….

 

The world will be inhospitable to humans.

 

To everything else.

 

Everything you know will change. We will not be able to cross the oceans in ANY way. We won't be able to do anything the way we do today. I hope you all realize that.

 

Whether I am infertile or not, I am not having children. I refuse to bring new lives into this world. I love this world, but I loathe fates for bringing me into this kind of life. At this time. I don't want to be here…

 

I can't be here…..

 

I'm scared. I am really scared. I don't want to live like this….

 

In 2029, I will be…what, thirty-one? I have friends who are that age! I will only have been out of school and actually living for about a decade! It's too soon….

 

All of it is too soon.

 

Please change, lovely people.

 

Please change.

 

Let some people die. Losing a few billion here and there wouldn't be a bad idea. Let some epidemics go untreated. Let some floods go undammed. Let some countries kill themselves in civil war. Let some third world nations starve.

 

Please, world.

 

Let this be the age of apathy, and stop trying to help people. Focus on the problems at home. Focus on the homeless. The jobless. The environment. The pollution. The starvation. The education system. Focus on YOURSELVES!

 

Be selfish! Fix things here before worrying about there. Fuck the global village—what's the use of trying to repair someone else's failing house when YOURS is about to cave in? Embrace the choice-based apathy of the Information Age, and give up on being good people.

 

Why, Cards Against Humanity has proved we're all horrible people.

 

It's time to prove that fact.