Overpopulation and the Jenga Analogy

The global population in 1950 was estimated at approximately 2.5 billion people. Fast forward to the year 2012, a mere six decades later, and the global population has reached a staggering 7 billion individuals. A UN report published in 2011 projects the population to climb to just beyond 9 billion by 2050 and to reach 10 billion by the end of the century. The addition of two billion people in the next forty years to an already overcrowded planet is a frightening thought.

Now on to Jenga. Jenga is a popular game in which blocks of wood are stacked to form a tower. The game is played by removing blocks from the bottom of the stack and then placing them onto the top. As the game progresses more and more weight is supported on an increasingly unstable foundation. The game ends when finally a block is removed that causes the structure to topple over.

It is not a stretch to see how we are doing the same thing to the earth. The blocks removed from the bottom are deforestation, over-fishing, habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity, pollution, species extinction, etc.. Balancing on the top of the damaged and defaced natural world is the weight of the ever-expanding human population.

The question is: How long can the game go on? What will be the final piece that causes the whole thing to come crashing down?