According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this past Tuesday, at approximately 7:46 a.m., the 300 millionth American was born. Although it is impossible to determine who actually deserves this shining title, statistics suggest the baby was most likely a Hispanic male born in the Southwest.
This major milestone places the United States alongside China and India-the only two other countries who have populations above the 300 million mark.
But such an event leaves any contemplative person wondering, "Where are we all going to fit?"
If humans continue to reproduce at the same pace, both in the United States and in the world, the tragedy of the commons scenario, which we all learn about in basic economics, will come true on a scale we cannot even imagine.
The basic laws of supply and demand that characterize most relationships do not apply here; it is feasible that we will run out of resources unless we proactively take steps to conserve our forests and plant new trees, make our water use more efficient, and develop alternative energy resources instead of depleting fossil fuels.
In America especially, we need to build a better transportation infrastructure to accommodate the suburban sprawl creeping from our overcrowded cities and make more of an effort to connect those Americans living in rural areas to the rest of the nation. But, as we expand, we must not destroy what little wildlife and conserved nature we have left.
Hopefully, besides debating the future of Iraq in the upcoming congressional and 2008 presidential elections, the political hopefuls will take the future of our country more seriously as well.
The federal government must make building highways a priority, and even more importantly, revitalize and increase the efficiency of national mass transport systems such as Amtrak. Rather than pushing for pork-barrel legislation to provide money for inefficient projects, members of Congress should work together to better connect their individual districts with the rest of the country and more efficiently allocate Americans' tax dollars to provide for our needs.
Just as importantly, countries of the world must also collaborate for the future's sake. Treaties like the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol are attempts at positive world synergy that are currently lagging.
If we cannot meet the challenges that nuclear weapons and global warming set out for us, how will we work together to stem the tide of the less publicized and less discussed impending problem of limited resources and fast-expanding population?
It will be difficult to convince nations to voluntarily cut back on their resource use "for the common good" of Earth and all its inhabitants.
Thus far, the powerful United States has missed the opportunity to set a positive example for the global community with energy efficiency.
Government policy has not forced Americans to make the needed sacrifices for the general good; even as we learn of dwindling energy resources.
Individual Americans and private businesses still continue to buy gas-guzzling Hummers, use our inefficient old appliances, and light our homes to unnecessary levels of brightness at all hours, and air-condition and heat our stores to the extreme.
Perhaps we should be the first country to take a stand on conserving resources given that our country already has one of the highest standards of living in the world.
It is important that we take steps now to ensure that our quality of life stays high for not only the 300 millionth baby, but also for the 400 millionth baby (if the United States becomes so crowded).
Since 1790, as many as 550 million people have lived in the United States; more than half of those people are alive at this very moment. We must seriously figure out ways to spread out in an environmentally efficient way and work together to save resources.
