Today, I’m launching a new podcast with United Technologies called the Race to 9 Billion™ that will explore sustainability in a growing and urbanizing world.
It took 200,000 years for the world population to reach one billion people. It doubled to two billion about 100 years after that, then it doubled again to four billion just 50 years later. Today, seven billion people live on Planet Earth with more and more every day. It truly is a Race to 9 Billion.
Fortunately, there are visionary people with remarkable ideas and technologies that can lead us to a more sustainable environmental future, even in a more crowded world. The Race to 9 Billion will bring those voices forward on subjects like the future of cities, the new concept of food efficiency, the important role of green buildings, jetting in greener skies and even sustainability lessons we’ll learn from the human mission to Mars!
The podcast is called The Race to 9 Billion because in just 35 short years the world population is projected to grow by 35%. That means we'll have more than 9 billion people on planet Earth by 2050. On top of that, at that time nearly 70% of us will be living in cities. These mega trends are redefining our economy and our society with big implications for environmental science and technology.
Our first episode called “Planet 2050: What is the Race to 9 Billion?” features National Geographic Magazine editor-in-chief Susan Goldberg, along with senior environment editor Rob Kunzig. They talk about how population growth and urbanization are redefining our society. I hope you’ll listen and let me know what you think!
You can find The Race to 9 Billion on iTunes, Google Play, and www.raceto9billion.com. I’ll be tweeting about it too, so follow me on Twitter @JohnMandyck to join the conversation.