Talk about a growing problem...

You probably heard that the number of people riding this big, beautiful Blue Marble through space just reached seven billion, according to the United Nations. But did you know that the earth’s human population increases by 10,000 every hour?

Or that we reached the point of consuming land, water, air and other natural resources faster than they could be replenished back in 1983, when the global population was at a measly 4.7 billion?

I knew that China has long been overpopulated – but I didn’t know that it’s actually Qatar, Saudi Arabia’s neighbor to the north, that is the fastest growing country in the world. More than 500 new inhabitants populate that Middle Eastern country each day.

How about this? More than two and a half billion people around the world lack sanitation. Ninety percent of the sewage in developing countries is released directly into oceans, lakes and rivers. And 1.4 million children die each year because of it – one child every 20 seconds.

This means three kids died in the time it took you to read this far.

Yes, we can discuss the population explosion and pursue technological advances and plant trees and recycle cans. But that’s clearly not enough. The majority of us aren’t living sustainable lives or even thinking about doing things to slow the destruction of our shared home – in fact, some of us are still arguing about whether we’re impacting the planet or not and how limited the earth’s resources really are.

I’m not on a high horse here. I have a big family, and I don’t do much anymore. We recycle a bit and Anita and I aren’t having any more babies, but that’s about it. I know I should pay attention to how the items I purchase are packaged and whether I really need them or not. I know I should drive less and bike more. I know I should teach my kids about consumptive consumerism and reducing their carbon footprint.

The Nature Conservancy offers a handy tool to calculate our footprint and our impact on the climate.

I can’t do anything about the sewage in developing countries or the population in the Persian Gulf region but I can make a difference in my own home. It’s not about politics. It’s not about being a self-righteous tree hugger. It’s about finite natural resources and threats to public health. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem.

Sources: The Week, the Nature Conservancy.