Can Space Colonization End Overpopulation?
Some space enthusiasts and SF readers believe the (or at least a) solution to Earth’s population pressures is to find new places for people to live beyond the Earth. The point of this article is not to consider whether human can, will or should eventually find additional homes not on planet Earth. It is only to deal with issues related to using colonization of space as a means to end the population crisis on Earth in a timely manner. According to the US Census Bureau’s estimates the human population of Earth as of Jan. 1, 2008 was over 6.6 billion. Their population figures indicate the world population is currently growing by over 70 million people each year. Population does not grow at the same number of people each year. As the population gets larger, there are more people to have babies, so the number of new babies each year tends to be greater than the number the year before. Assuming humans do not begin to reproduce at a slower rate, as time goes by the annual increase in populati
