Charley, Your economist friend is not very good with numbers. The State of Texas is 268601 sq.mi., Land 261914 sq. mi., Water 6687 sq.mi. We'll use the larger number, assuming your economist friend would have people living on houseboats. There are 640 acres in a square mile, thus there are 171,904,640 acres in Texas. Divide that by 6 billion and you get .02865 acre per person. An acre is 43,560 s.f., times the .02865 = 1,248 s.f. per person, or 4,992 s.f. for a family of 4. He says that each family of 4 would have 1/8 acre pus house. 1/8 acres is 5,320 s.f. plus a modest 1,200 s.f. house = 6,520 s.f.
4,992 vs. 6520 is not a huge difference, but one would think that an economist would not be so sloppy with his math. What else was he sloppy with in presenting his case?
Of course packing people this densely leaves no room for sewage disposal, schools, hospitals, roads, government buildings, factories, stores, etc. Maybe we should double the room. Oh, maybe we should find room for crops to feed the people, trees to make oxygen. How much of the Earth is too arid, or mountainous for that?
Yea, let's keep breeding like roaches 'till it breaks.
Del |
