Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: SF Chinese (ID:kexuejiaodian), author: SF

We already know that the core of sustainable development is human sustainable development, which not only requires people to benefit from sustainable development, but also requires human activities to be harmonious and sustainable with nature. The dusty weather in parts of northern China a few days ago has given us a warning: if human activities do not change, there will only be more similar extreme weather in the future.

(by Mei Lin / tr. by Robert Taylor)

Visual Design | Xia Meng

Recently, there has been a wide range of blowing sand weather in northern China. The unreasonable development of forests and grasslands by human beings is one of the reasons for the occurrence of sand blowing weather. Many people believe that with the improvement of health care, human life expectancy continues to prolong, which will lead to overpopulation, consume more resources, and bring more carbon emissions and pollution to the already overburdened planet. More and more people are the enemies of sustainable development.

So the question arises: is it really good to extend human life for sustainable development?

People are not overpopulated when they live longer and longer. However, contrary to what we think, when human life expectancy becomes longer and longer, there is usually no overpopulation. On the contrary, because people are more likely to delay childbearing age and reduce the number of births, the total fertility rate (the average number of births per woman) tends to decline.

Many friends may think that this is impossible: people live longer and longer, how can there be no overpopulation? In fact, in recent decades, while human life expectancy has increased, the fertility rate has indeed declined. Therefore, although the global population is still growing, it is not growing as fast as it used to be, and there has even been negative population growth in some regions in recent years.

Trends in total fertility in all regions of the world (1950-2050). From the picture, we can see that the total fertility rate in all places is generally declining and tends to balance. (photo source: Rcragun) for example, Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world, with an average life expectancy of 84 years, but the total fertility rate is only about 1. In the 1960s, when the average life expectancy in Japan was less than 70 years, the total fertility rate was more than 2.

Therefore, we can say that longevity does not lead to overpopulation at all. In fact, children around the age of 4 can now look forward to a longer life expectancy. About 1/3 of Britons are expected to celebrate their 100th birthday, according to forecasts by some British institutions.

But it's not all good to live such a long life. The survey shows that in some countries where life expectancy has been increased, there is no sign that these long-lived elderly people are in good health.

No overpopulation is beneficial to the sustainable development of mankind? Let's go back to our original question. Although the extension of human lifespan has not led to overpopulation. But after all, more and more people live longer, which is a huge burden for the earth. Not only that, there is also a huge gap in life expectancy between developed and less developed countries. So would it be inappropriate for more people to live longer in developed countries, which already consume more resources?

It can be seen that it is too early to consider extending the overall life span of human beings. Our primary goal now should be to increase life expectancy in less developed parts of the world and to ensure that their health and lives are not affected. Only in this way can we begin to consider whether we should extend the overall life span of human beings.

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