Someone sent me this site link via e-mail, and after I saw the whole thing I felt really humble. Take a look and tell me what you think. Make sure you watch it from beginning to end.
http://www.luccaco.com/terra/terra.htm

great link :)

I've seen those figures before in an e-mail but this certainly puts it more into perspective. Thanks for the link.

As I always say, even on your worst day, people like us tend to have things a whole lot better than many others.

Great link - it's always nice to be reminded just how well we have things. Makes you happy with what you have. :)

Greg Moore

great site - makes you truly think of how blessed we are

I posted that link weeks ago, and no one cared then.

Suddenly you're all noble.

Hmm... :)

am i from 8 people own computer :rolleyes:

:(

Why should this site be humbling for those who live in the US? Rather it should make Americans feel proud of their achievements. How many of those in poverty live in countries where the governments are corrupt. Where arms are purchased at the expense of food and education. Where the dictators are afraid of letting the people know anything out of fear that if they knew, the first thing they'd do is get rid of the leaders.

America (the US in particular) is a remarkable phenomenon. Perhaps unprecedented in history. There's a lot to be proud of!

What do I think about the clip? Self-righteous.

it seems a certain continent needs to learn how to say no a little more often , judging by those statistics.

Man, that almost made me cry!

I love it! :)
Really makes you think, though... :rolleyes:

Remember these aren't just America's statistics. This clip shows the World's statistics. The video starts out with the following line:

"If we could turn the earth population into a small community of 100 people"

I think anyone that fits into the "wealthy" categories should be proud. Whether they're living in the USA or in Europe.

Ive got a Bank account but there is sod all money in it...how does that make me rich!

:bawling:

Simon

true mate, we and our ancestors spent time bettering outselves and building a half decent society, not just spawning brats left right and centre. im damn proud of what i personally have worked to achieve and what people around me and before me have done. i dont think we should be too humbled just cos we worked imstead of racking up a massive over population problem.

Originally posted by richy
it seems a certain continent needs to learn how to say no a little more often , judging by those statistics. Which continent are you referring to? And saying no to what?

it was a reference to asia and birth control. 61% of the worlds population and what percentage of the wealth or ability to support that 61%

I posted something before here, but... nevermind.

Originally posted by richy
true mate, we and our ancestors spent time bettering outselves and building a half decent society, not just spawning brats left right and centre.

Well that's got to be close to the most uneducated post I've ever seen on this forum.

In many third world countries children are considered a retirement policy. Without a financial reward they're forced to work until they can't anymore. At this point their children provide for them by planting crops, cooking etc. Families are often large community groups sharing tasks for the good of all. When famine strikes no-one has the slightest idea of when it will occur, or how long it will last. To say that go out of their way to breed large amounts of children just for the sake of rolling around in the dirt is insane. The famines of Africa aren't an ongoing thing in any single region. For the past decade or so it's come and gone from Ethiopia, Rwanda amongst others. When the rain comes there has to be people to make the most of it while it lasts. It's ingrained in their culture.

Birth control? These cultures often have no concept of the physical act of pregnancy. Children are created by 'God' and the act of sex bears little relation to this. I remember during the Ethiopean famine aid workers put up billboards and air dropped birth control with leaflets explaining what they were for... shame almost no-one there has the ability to read...

Just because a western society has a view on something and an understanding of how *they* feel things should be done, doesn't mean everyone else does. I saw a documentary recently on Rwanda and the missing children there (300 000 of them I believe the number was). It focused on a photographer who was commissioned to take photos of children and try to unite them with their parents via 'stations' with thousands of pictures. To test how it would work he placed a photo of himself on the board and stood next to it. He asked people who it was. Very few of them recognized him, even as he stood right there. They'd never seen a photograph and couldn't get their heads around it. Often parents would visit half a dozen stations (all the same photos) before finding their child at the last one - they 'learnt' the ability to pick faces from photos. One woman who found her childs face started to howl uncontrollably. The photographer asked her why she was crying since she'd found her child. Her response was "They cut his head off" No-one had of course.. you just couldn't see his body in the photograph.

The worlds a pretty big place and your views aren't always the same as others. Neither may be right or wrong, just different.

Greg Moore

ok ill ignore the insult and explain the logic behind my post, i had wrongly assumed that people would take it in the vein it was meant and actually think about what i was getting at.
a country has a finite amount of space. you start with two people. they have ten kids as their retirement policy, these ten kids pair up and have ten more per pair, can we see where this is going. the amount of people expands but the resources do not. european and american cultures developed to adapt to their surroundings as well, we expand where appropriate etc but we also develop better management of resources so we can support our populus. my post wasnt uneducated, im sorry if it wasnt worded correctly. yes ok im willing to accept they have no concept of how kiddies come along. its very far fetched to say that, its no great leap of logic but ill let it go, does that excuse the fact or mean that just because they dont know it will suddenly make a population explosion viable?

now the original post (a certain continent needs to learn to say no) was half intended as a joke, but there was truth behind it. you cannot just continue to expand your population for selfish means and expect that the world will provide. it is my belief and i accept that it may not be yours, that it is a persons right to ensure that they can provide for a child before bringing it into this world, and that they should want a child for the right reasons, i dont class a having a child as a pension plan as a right reason. i have a pension company for that. i'll have a child when im in a position to be able to care for it and provide for it and when i do it will be because i want to bring a life into this world and love and care for it and provide it with what it needs to be what it wants to be. i think you may have misjudged that meaning of my post, i sometimes over simplify what im saying and throw in a lump of humour to make it a little more readable. i didnt say they breed just for the act, i was meaning that they should instigate some form of birth control to curb their population and get their country into a state where the populus have a better life. it wasnt meant as an insult, merely an observation, surely someone in the whole of asia knows about the birds and the bees.

I agree for the most part in what you're saying. I have one child and only plan on having that one child, in part for poulation control. I also agree birth control is a wonderful thing and should be used as necessary for whoever wants it. I agree with you.. because I'm from the '1st World' - or more directly, from a country that has the internet, world news, and books in school that explained the world to me from a holistic perspective.

The leap of logic you mention makes perfect sense to us. To us it's pretty obvious what putting tab A in slot B will do. Of course a few hundred years ago many N.A. Indians thought having their photo taken would steal their souls, and europeans were killed for thinking the world was anything but flat. Someone else knew the world was round, but 'knew' it floated on 4 elephants riding on the back on a giant turtle.

These days that's just bizarre, but at the time, within their own culture all perfectly acceptable ways of thinking - and often bad for your health to think otherwise.

To try to explain world demographics to a group of people who've sometimes never been more than a few miles from where they were born is a hard task at best. I suppose the only reason I take acception to it all is when people would assume others are motivated to do something in spite of what they 'should' know rather than what they do know.

Incidently did you know that in regard to resource use versus available supply, the USA and Australia have the worst level in the known world? Both countries only survive environmentally due to imports. :)

Greg Moore

ahh you read mr prattchet as well :)

aus and usa may only survive on imports but in general they can import enough to support themselves. they have a clue about population control. i didnt know those facts but they dont really suprise me.

i guess were prividilged in the fact that we are educated and that we can make informed decisions. i certainly wouldnt feel humbled tho, why feel humble, people worked for it, just as were working on answers for future generations. i guess more then anything else i cant comprehend how anyone can bring a child into existance as a pension scheme. surely if you life was that bad you wouldnt want to subject it on other people, let alone your own flesh and blood. i guess a different culture has different values.

its certainly one mixed up world out there.

Proud.. not so sure. interestingly enough that clip left of some of the most interesting statistics, use of natural resources and pollution production. The percentages are pretty much inline with the wealth distribution, if not worse (especially in North America compared to Europe for example).

Also the 3rd world could easily feed itself if it was not producing cash crops such as coffee and tobacco for the 1st world, and then having to use large amounts of that money purchase machinery, pesticides etc from the 1st world thereby becoming dependant. Natural resources from the 3rd world have prices set by the 1st world who have all the bargining power. To blame the 3rd world problems suggesting "they breed to much" ignores the complete lack of education billions of people have, their culture and lastly the 1st world general opression and explotation of these countries.

thats incrediable, very moving....


Jim

Great discussion but, I HAVE A HEADACHE NOW!! Granted an educated headache from the first world, or is that the second plane? No, same plane differnt existence of time..oh damn..argggggg the pain...

LOL..

true, one of the civalisations i admire the most are the native americans. they lived pretty much in harmony with nature, not exceeding their environments ability to support them. they reacheda plateau of cultural and technological evolution and were happy just sitting there. a lot could be learned from their ways. i totally agree we pollute way to much (but am i allowed to mention internation pollution treaties on an american chat board ;)). i know we have taken advantage of the 3rd world. if we stopped selling them arms then theyd have a lot more money to spend on internal development. the breed too much thing was an oversimplification. the main part i cant understand is how anyone can bring a child into the world like that without knowing they can support it. i mean you have one kid, you struggle to support it, you have another and struggle more, and yet it never clicks to stop. lack of education maybe an excuse but it doesnt change the fact there is a problem. something needs to change. kids cant choose to be born or not. they have to deal with the lot they are given, its the parents responsibility to ensure that the child has a good life.