Environmental Science

   Well, today we started populations so I thought I would provide some more specific numbers concerning populations around the world. Here is what I found:

• World population ~ 6,585,027,788
• U.S. ~ 301,474,983
• Illinois ~ 12,440,351
• IL Male ~ 6,090,298          Margin of Error: +/- 4,022
• IL Female ~ 6,350,053     Margin of Error: +/- 4,022
• Largest Current Country Populations:
  1. China – 1,313,973,713
  2. India – 1,095,351,995
  3. United States – 301, 474, 983
  4. Indonesia – 245,452,739
  5. Brazil – 188,078,22

  

  “According to the Population Reference Bureau, these will be the ten largest countries based on population in 2050…”

  1. India – 1,628,000,000

  2. China – 1,437,000,000

  3. United States – 420,000,000

  4. Nigeria – 299,000,000

  5. Pakistan – 295,000,000

  6. Indonesia – 285,000,000

  7. Brazil – 260,000,000

  8. Bangladesh – 231,000,000

  9. Democratic Republic of Congo – 183,000,000

  10. Ethiopia – 145,000,000

  Smallest Current Country Populations:

  1. Vatican City ~ 920 (considered a country)
  2. Tuvalu ~ 11,640
  3. Nauru ~ 13,050
  4. Palau ~ 20,300
  5. San Marino ~ 28,880

Sources:

• http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
• http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17000.html
• http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17000lk.html
• http://geography.about.com/cs/worldpopulation/a/mostpopulous.htm
• http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/2050pop.htm
• http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctypopsl.htm
• Photo Credit: AP-NASA-12/00/1972

Although few in number, some scientists are not convinced that humans are causing global warming but are saying it is a natural happening in the solar system. This hypothesis arrose due to the same greenhouse gas and warming on Mars like there is on Earth. There are obviously no humans on Mars so there is no way that any humans caused the climate change there. The natural occurence these scientists are referring to is that the warming is caused by changes in the sun. Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data shows how, “The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars.”

This “long-term increase in solar irradiance” is further explained with “planet wobbles.” Scientists have found that every planet has its axis-tilt changed and for Earth this happens once every “20,000 to 100,000 years” (called a Milankovitch cycle).

This is a startling theory considering all the work and laws that have been made to solve this problem. Other scientists opposed to Abdussamatov like Colin Wilson, a planetary physicist at England’s Oxford University, who said, “His views are completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion, and they contradict the extensive evidence presented in the most recent IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report.”

Abdussamatov goes even further to totally dismis the idea of greenhouse gases and their effect on the environment. His claim is that “carbon dioxide has only a small influence on Earth’s climate and virtually no influence on Mars. “

(Photo Credit: www.wikimedia.com)

This idea for sure will shake the science community but I don’t see enough evidence against the current notion of global warming to change my mind. We have proven and heard about numerous different types of greenhouse gases and their harmful effect on this planet if not on all planets. I doubt Abdussamatov will get very far with his extreme reasoning but the universe is very undiscovered and and very unfamiliar si their may be more of these types of “discoveries” in the future. Maybe impervious surfaces are good for the environment.

Sources:

• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mars_Hubble.jpg