People. People who need people. Are the luckiest people, in the world.
Well. Maybe Streisand was right. Maybe she wasn’t. But one thing is for sure. Whether we need people or not, we got ’em. All around us.
The current world population is roughly 8.1 billion people.
You can check the clock here anytime. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
But how are all the people nestled into this world of ours?
Precariously? Nicely? Interestingly?
Mostly the latter. For instance, Loch Ness could hold the entire world’s population several times over. Yes. The lake. Now, I’ve never been there to see it with my own eyes. But I understand it is quite large. I suppose it would have to be to keep that monster hidden all these years. In fact. It is huge. It could be home to everyone.
To put that in more perceptible terms, the loch, or lake as we call them here, contains 268 billion cubic feet of water. It’s about 800 feet deep and 22 square miles in area. That means, in the space taken up by the lake, you could fit every single person in the world. And then you could do it ten times over.
So you doubt that there’s some big fishy monster living there? Well, I’m just telling you, it has a lot of room where it might be able to hide.
Well, since we are talking about all the people living in one place, let us swing on over to Alaska.
Alaska is beautiful. But its climate can be unforgiving, especially in the north. I mean, there you can be stuck in freezing temperatures where the sun doesn’t shine for weeks at a time.
But those Alaskans seem to find a way to make it. Like in the town of Whittier.
The tiny town of Whittier only has one access road, which is often inaccessible in winter thanks to the 22 feet of annual snow. The tunnel is only one lane, and they close it at night, leaving the sea as the only way in. Which is sometimes nearly impossible.
Here is the thing. The townspeople manage by living almost exclusively in the same building.
Nearly 200 people all live in the same 14-story building that was once a military barracks. In addition to homes, it features the town post office, a bed and breakfast, a grocery store, and the police station. Kids can access the local school through an underground tunnel. Hello, neighbor.
But would you really want all your people in one place?
Like. What if there were a nuclear war? This situation would not be good.
Which brings me to this.
No nuclear war is ever a good situation. But if one does happen, where I would want to be? In one of our government’s deep, safe fallout shelters.
Or. Perhaps I’d rather be in Switzerland. Oh yeah. The entire Swiss population has a place in the country’s fallout shelters. That is because, by Swiss law, building owners are required to have a fallout shelter available to house all residents. That’s for private homes and apartment buildings. Everybody falls out.
By 2006, there were 300,000 shelters in Swiss homes plus an additional 5,100 public shelters, which would give protection to 8.6 million people, or 114% of the population. Their next closest competitors, Sweden, only have room for 81% of the population.
Here in America, we are pretty much dust.
Dusty people. Dusty people who need people.
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“The Earth is what we all have in common.” – Wendell Berry
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“Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” – Carl Sagan
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“We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.” – Terry Swearingen
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Lots of people to worry about.
