Minnesota Population

A 7-minute dramatization of the history of population growth in Minnesota and its impact on natural resources. Uploaded with the permission of the copyright holder, World Population Balance.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• population
• growth
• Minnesota
• upper
• midwest
• natural
• resources
• iron
• topsoil
• wheat.

[MrGman13131]

Do you know why the population of the world has risen so quickly? It's because more babies and old people are surviving. So to fix this "problem" which one of these two things do you want to stop?

[ZaneRokklyn]

You're just quoting two aspects of the death rate. The growth rate (ignoring immigration for the moment) is the birth rate minus the death rate. The death rate (of both young and old people) can remain low if the birth rate also decreases. And that is what has been happening for the past 100 years, all over the world; it's just not happening fast enough to prevent impending crises of resource scarcity. The most effective way to reduce the birth rate is to educate children, especially girls.

[ZaneRokklyn]

That's great to hear! If and when WPB makes a new video, we'll be sure to research it again. The erosion data for this video were based on sediment accumulation at Lake Pepin, which had to come from somewhere upstream -- if not from your neighbors' farms, than from somewhere else in Minnesota.

[estoylocos]

This is a fascinating video and I appreciate you all making it. As a Minnesotan myself I understand how important it is to preserve our natural resources (and simply nature in general) for future generations to enjoy as well. However, increased population growth seems to be all but inevitable. Instead of stopping population growth, shouldn't we be looking at ways to sustain these higher populations levers rather than trying to stop them? We should have denser cities with taller buildings IMO.

[ZaneRokklyn]

Thank you for your comments! Growth is not inevitable, in fact the UN predicts it will stop by 2060 at the latest. Unfortunately that's not soon enough to save our environment at current rates of consumption. Many people are looking at ways to sustain the population, but it's kind of like betting that someone will finish building a bridge before your train gets to the river -- if you slow down, they'll have more time to finish the bridge!

[buferdt]

are these 2 girls never gonna have kids then?ya know to do there part?

[ZaneRokklyn]

That's up to them. But we don't need everyone to stop having kids in order to stop growth; we just need to average 2 or fewer children per woman. So one of them could have three kids and the other one, and they would still be doing their part.

[gravelandgrain100]

You wanna know why the Minnesota population is expanding so rapidly. It's two-fold, and the weather has nothing to do with it. We are an extremely progressive welfare state-you can come here with nothing but the clothes on your back and receive healthcare, food, and shelter. We also have a lower than average unemployment rate. BUT this is good because once you are able to find a job you become more self-sufficient(by the progressive states theory).

in other words-Minnesota is pretty awesome.

[farmforever]

Nice way to show population growth but riddled with inaccurate statements. As a farmer, I can assure you that the vast majority of Minnesota's fertile farm fields are NOT losing top soil as is stated in the video. Productivity continues to increase, even as farmers reduce fertilizer and pesticide inputs.

[TippmannHawk]

HOLLLLLLY CRAP 140 every minnet?