Overpopulation: Night Soil, Morning Thunder, and the Winds of Change

 

 

 

 

 

            6,597,892,501.   From the time I typed the first “O” of the title, to the click of the final period, just shy of six million human beings will have been added to the world’s population.  That’s more than twice the number of people living in the city of Chicago.  If I am able to complete this article by my goal date of May 30th, 2007, the number will have grown to 6,603,763,105[1].  This exponential rate of increase begs the question - is it time to illuminate the No Vacancy sign?  If not now, when?  Scientists and academics agree that the current exponential growth rate is unsustainable ad infinitum.  Yet, the very notion of overpopulation has been so controversial, that no goal figures have been set; no consensus has been reached.  The Optimum Population Trust, in a document titled, The Case For an Optimum Population, states, “The optimum population of a country is the one which is most likely to produce a good and sustainable quality of life for its inhabitants without adversely affecting the quality of life either of people who live in other countries or of people who will live in future times.[2]” So, how do we determine when we have exceeded the bounds of our environment?  Much has been reported on the issues of supply, usage and consumption, so perhaps it is time that we approach the problem from the other end.  This essay was inspired by the favorite bedtime book of my two year old nephew, Jack (a smart lad, but none too precocious at the potty training).  Its title: Everyone Poops.  The final page (his favorite) depicts the entire ensemble with their posteriors aimed at the reader, and in full, well…action[3].  That is fine for a small cast of whales, camels, birds, etc., but is increasingly problematic for a society rapidly approaching seven billion, producing some sixteen billion pounds of excrement daily[4].  By isolating this malodorous byproduct of human existence, we may move towards better understanding the limits of population.

 

~Night Soil~

 

            6,601,536,347.   Human waste is comprised of primarily organic matter which can be readily absorbed by (and can be beneficial to) our natural surroundings.  Problems arise, however, when the quantity of waste exceeds the capacity of the surrounding environment, or when the waste itself is improperly managed.  We have moved from a time of waste equilibrium to one of imbalance.  The history which has brought us to this point begins with our earliest human ancestors, who left their egested matter as it fell, “…here or there, in the manner of all other land creatures.[5]”  Natural processes were able to accommodate the then small quantities of excreta.  As humans began cultivating land, more densely populated communities developed. As these communities grew, the abundance of fall-where-it-may waste was becoming insufferable.  To ameliorate the problem, communities began to develop systems of waste management. How these systems evolved was largely dependent on their attitudes towards excrement.  “The patterns of settled communities early split into two courses: one that unambiguously assumed there to be in human excreta a fertilizer value to agriculture, and one that did not regard it as having such a value or that was at least ambivalent about its value.” Reported Ann Rockefeller in an article titled, Civilization & Sludge: Notes on the History of the Management of Human Excreta.  The former school of thought took hold in the West, where the Roman systems of waste management included indoor plumbing and the first flushable toilet.  The latter, was manifest in the East, where human excreta was considered a valuable, nutrient-rich fertilizer.  They called it “night soil” and it was exported from the urban areas to the rural farmland where it was added to the soil for increased fertility while decreasing a source of urban pollution[6].  

 

~If it’s Brown~

           

6,602,033,478. In hindsight, we realize that many of the systems and dispositions that existed in ancient western civilizations were rather flawed.  Modern Western society continues to ignore the various problems stemming from the mismanagement of what we now consider (thanks to the ancient Roman’s) to be an embarrassing byproduct of consumption - excrement.  As our modern sewage systems reach a state of crisis, it is time to shed some light on this issue; to bring it out of the (water) closet.  “Sewage pollution of the sea is as old as civilization.  It provides nutrients, which in moderation can benefit sea life.  The problem arises when there is too much of it…A new study sponsored by GESAMP and the World Health Organization now shows that-far from just causing isolated local problems—microbiological contamination of the sea has precipitated a health crisis with massive global implications.”  The EPA reports that 3.5 million people get diseases every year from sewage borne E. coli.  Recently, fifty million gallons of untreated sewage were released into Hawaii’s beaches (in the worst sewage spill in US history) resulting in widespread illness and one fatality.  The EPA reported 73,000 sewer spills in America last year alone.  The water carriage system of sewage treatment, which began with the first flushable toilet, has been problematic since its inception.  While so called “water closets” (as opposed to “earth closets”, the compost toilets favored by many 19th century environmentalists) provided the convenience of transporting feces out of the home, other problems were increased, such as disease and environmental degradation. This led to the modern wastewater treatment processes that are now prevalent in Europe and America.  During this treatment process, toxicants and nutrients are removed from the wastewater, leaving “clean” discharge water and a troublesome byproduct: toxic sludge.  Now the question is, ‘where do we put the 11.6 billion pounds of sludge that America’s urban areas produce each year?’  Until 1992, it was dumped into the oceans, causing widespread devastation to the delicate marine ecosystem. Recently, the EPA decided that we should implement the ancient Asian practice of returning human excrement to farmland.  There are two major problems with this solution.  One—far more sludge is being produced than could possibly be utilized as fertilizer.  Two— the chemical composition of modern sludge differs from traditional night soil in that it has higher toxicity levels.   This is caused by both industrial and domestic chemical use.  These chemicals commingle with our waste water and enter a treatment system that is poorly equipped to dispose of them.  Most of these toxins are irremovable during processing and become part of the sludge.   Additionally, this sludge is not as nitrogen rich as night soil, as the nitrogen rich urine is removed during processing. It is, therefore, both an environmental pollutant and a detriment to overall soil quality[7].  Despite the 70 billion dollars spent over the past two decades by the US government on centralized sewage treatment, “States report that municipal discharges are the second leading source of water quality impairment in all of the nation’s waters[8]” (Congressional Research Service).

 

~Morning Thunder~

 

            6,605,225,913. Whoa!  That is becoming quite a sum. Due to a bought of creative constipation, my target date for completing this essay has passed, and the population has burgeoned beyond my initial projection.  It does, however, make for an even more impressive number with which to express the magnitude of a lighter (both literally and figuratively) byproduct of human consumption—our gaseous emissions.  I am going to pause for a personal (and only marginally appropriate) admission here.  I have always been a sucker for a fart joke.  That said, you might imagine my glee, when I stumbled across a scientifically relevant article, which detailed how human flatulence increases global warming.  According to Dr. Roth, many people pass methane free gas.  Individuals, however, whose parents are methane producers, have a 95% chance of being producers themselves.  Methane (along with the carbon dioxide that is produced by all farters), at the present population, substantially contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for global warming. Scientific studies have shown that all humans fart, and that the related pollutant factors are not influenced by gender. Women fart just as much as men, but there are differences in volume, duration, and even farting practices.  “A gentleman is mostly likely to fart first thing in the morning, while in the bathroom.  This is known as ‘morning thunder’ and if the gentleman gets good resonance, it can be heard throughout the household[9].” I will be the first to admit that this last fact has little to do with science or with my essay, but as stated in my earlier admission, this is a personal weakness.  That noted, I will continue.  While Morning Thunder is not as common for woman, female farts have a higher concentration of odor-causing gases, albeit they are on average slightly lesser in volume. “The two factors equal out (the same number of stench molecules for both), so the odor is about the same.[10]”  On average, people fart fourteen times a day, producing approximately half a liter of fart gasses.  Today alone, over 3.3 billion liters of human gasses will be emitted into the earth’s atmosphere. If that does not give you pause, consider this: as farters, we are not alone.  The animals that we raise for our consumption also fart, some copiously. According to Anra Kennedy author of the highly regarded Cow Farts: Global Warmers or a Load of Hot Air, “Scientists around the world have known for years that animal wind could be a problem.[11]” A recent scientific study determined that in California, home to a significant amount of our nation’s dairy farms, cow farts are contributing more to global warming than automobiles in the region.  Before I am tempted to expound on the issue of burps (another source of greenhouse gas emissions), I best move on, lest I further digress. 

 

 

~Hitting the Fan~

 

 

 

6,605,591,039. Clean air and water—these are essential resources which we have only recently realized to be exhaustible.  The symbiotic relationship, whereby the environment inhales our gasses and consumes our fall-where-it-may waste, is no longer a viable one.  The reason: human population has surpassed the earth’s finite ecological boundaries.   Currently, 31 countries face water stresses and scarcity. More than one billion people lack adequate access to clean drinking water. In a recent news article, Laura Orlando wrote, “In the wealthiest country in the world, people are dying from the industrial end products of state-of-the-art sewage treatment systems.  In the Global South, where 65% of the population have no sanitation facilities at all, people are dying from exposure to excreta that carry disease.[12]” By the year 2025, as many as two thirds of the world’s population will be living in conditions of serious water shortage and one-third will be living in conditions of absolute water scarcity, according to a recent United Nations report[13].  The 2.6 billion people that will be added to the world population during this time period would require an additional 16.276 Trillion gallons of water per year, just to flush their 3.380 Trillion pounds of excrement, if they were all to live in areas with flushable toilets (only half of the world’s population has access to toilets). Residents of third world countries that do not have access to running water, dump their untreated excreta directly into streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.  Millions, who rely on these bodies of water, as their sole source of drinking water, will die from cholera, diarrhea, hepatitis, and other water borne illnesses. In third world countries, an estimated 3 million deaths per year (over two million of which are children under the age of five) are currently attributable to diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water.  We in the industrialized world do not suffer such high rates of infant mortality.  Our children have clean running water for drinking, bathing, and flushing.  For the pre-toilet set, we have diapers.  These diapers, however, significantly contribute to both global water shortages and pollution.    One baby will typically require 6000 disposable diapers during its first two and a half years.  This means that over a billion trees, or 201 billion pounds of cotton, are needed to diaper the world’s more fortunate infant posteriors. While the cloth clad infant may require only 3-6 dozen cloth diapers for the same time range, 20,000 gallons of water a year are needed to wash one baby’s cloth diapers.  Yet, this is still preferable to the 2 tons of waste that would be generated should the infant be diapered with disposables.  Currently, disposable diapers, which take 500 years to decompose, constitute 30% of our nation’s non-biodegradable waste[14]

 

 

 

~Two Point Three~

 

6,605,877,678. Allow me to not so discretely segway from diapers to their bearers: babies.   Should every woman worldwide, have (on average) 2.3 babies, the world population clock would effectively stand still.  Should we fall below this number, the population decreases, above it, and the species continues to swell.  I should note that there is some disagreement among experts as to exactly where this number of stasis falls, but the total range is between 2.1 and 2.3 (the .2 discrepancy stems largely from variances in projections for disease, disaster, life expectancy, etc).  There is some argument (almost entirely from outside of the scientific community) as to whether the problems I have discussed herein are causally tied to overpopulation or if they are the result of insufficient infrastructures, which could be improved to accommodate our population.  That said, none can effectively argue that on a local, national or global level, we are currently succeeding in managing our waste, and on a broader scale, our environmental resources as a whole.  The answer: stop the clock.  We need to begin considering the delicate balance point between population level and the capacities of our environment (including manmade systems).   Our mechanisms have long been lagging behind the rate of population increase, and the chasm is broadening.  The responsible action of a sentient society is to insure the well-being of its own; all of its own.  Until this balance point is reached, population growth is immoral.  This concept, is believed by many followers of the Super Duper Book from Long Ago (choose your flavor) to be blasphemous.  Many, if not most, of the 10,000 currently practiced religions are interpreted to state that it is a high virtue to procreate abundantly[15].  Yet, by in large, these sentiments were penned in times of scant, primarily agrarian, populations, where fruitful multiplication was essential to survival.  Today we are faced with the opposite dilemma.  It is time to write the Book of Now.  At this juncture I would like to clearly state that I am not proposing that any form of mandated reproductive limit be imposed (as has been the case in China).  Without government intervention, Japan, Ireland, most of southern and eastern Europe and other areas, have fertility rates that are now below the level of population increase.  These counties are leading by example.  Sadly, it is common that the poorest countries, which are least cable of supporting large populations, are among those with the highest fertility rates.  Supporting the ideology that a large family is a moral objective to these developing nations is a harmful practice.  We must do our part in altering the global dialogue on this subject through example and education.   A sustainable population must become our unified goal.  In doing so, we best protect the value and dignity of human life.

 

 

~The Winds of Change~

 

 

We have received word that nephew Jack has been gifted a training doll (the ever helpful Potty Scotty) to assist in alleviating his hesitancy towards using the “big boy bowl”.  Should Potty Scotty prove to be unsuccessful, Dr Phil has suggested that we might try a potty party, or as a last resort, a surprise call of encouragement from a favorite super hero, or one created for the occasion (my vote is for  Pooper Man, although Splash Gordon and the Inedible Bulk are both gaining in popularity).  Yet, as we are certain that Jack will soon delight his parents with his manifest success, it is with mixed emotion that we will welcome his small contribution.  Our collective cup runneth over.   In viewing but a single resultant element of the ever increasing mass of humanity, we can more clearly perceive the broader dilemma. Everyone poops; a truism that even a toddler can comprehend.  Moving forward, we must strive to regain ecological balance, whereby the byproducts of our consumption, are once again in equilibrium with the environment.    The first step will be the recognition of the immediate need to establish an optimum global population figure.  This must be followed by voluntary adherence towards achieving this level.  I urge you to preview the number below. All told, we will have over 8.1 million more people living on the planet then when I began writing this essay; over two million more than I had initially estimated.   Our immediate action is a matter of, well…urgency.

 

 

~6, 606,007,809~

 

 

 

[1]. University of California, Berkeley. Human Population 2007. retrieved from:

http://math.berkeley.edu/~galen/popclk.html (source used for all population numbers)

[2]. Optimum Population Trust. The Case for an Optimum Population. 2007. retrieved from: http://www.optimumpopulation.org/

[3] Gomi, Taro. Everyone Poops (My Body Science). Kane Miller Book Publishers. La Jolla, CA. 2001.

[4] United States Environmental Protection Agency. Solid Waste in New England. 2007. retrieved from: http:///C%3A/Documents%2520and%2520Settings/Wiredsport/Desktop/Pop/Solid%2520Waste.mht

[5]Rockefeller, A.A., Civilization and Sludge: Notes on the History of Human Excreta. Current World Leaders. 1996. Vol. 39 No. 6 pgs. 99-113.  retrieved from: http://www.riles.org/paper1a.htm

 

[6] Montague, Peter. “Excrement Happens” Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly.  2007. retrieved from:  http://www.garynull.com/Documents/ERF/excrement_happens__part_1.htm

[7] Rockefeller, A.A., “Civilization and Sludge: Notes on the History of Human Excreta Current World Leaders. 1996. Vol. 39 No. 6 pgs. 99-113.  retrieved from: http://www.riles.org/paper1a.htm

[8]  Montague, Peter. “Excrement Happens” Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly.  2007. retrieved from:  http://www.garynull.com/Documents/ERF/excrement_happens__part_1.htm

[9] Lorenz, Brenna.  “Facts on Farts” November, 2004.  retrieved from: http://www.heptune.com/farts.html

 

[10] Lorenz, Brenna.  “Facts on Farts” November, 2004.  retrieved from: http://www.heptune.com/farts.html

[11] Kennedy, Anra. “Cow Farts: Global Warmers or a Load of Hot Air24 hour museum.  May 2007. retrieved from: http://www.show.me.uk/site/news/STO873.html

 

[12] Orlando, Laura.  “Sustainable Sanitation” Dollars & Sense Magazine.  June 2001.  retrieved from: http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2001/0501orlando.html

[13] Barlow, Maude. “Blue Gold” 2001. retrieved from:   http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Water/Blue_Gold.html

[14] Biel, Susan C. “The Diaper Dilemma: The Environmental Cost of Diapers” 2004. retrieved from: http://www.allnaturalmamas.com/pdfs/dd-envr%20costs.pdf

[15] Ostling, Richard N. May 2001. Associated Press. retrieved from: http://www.adherents.com/misc/WCE.html