7 Billion People
A baby girl was born in a hospital in the Philippines, on 30th October, 2011. However, unlike all the other children born that day, the arrival of Danica May Camacho was witnessed by a crowd of photographers and journalists. The world’s media were gathered in a hospital in Manila because this little girl was the 7 billionth person on earth.
Overpopulation
Our population is growing. Fast. There are now 7.6bn people on earth and the UN projects that it will be 8.6bn by 2030, and nearly 10 billion by 2050. How many people is too many? Is the planet overpopulated?
“Overpopulation” is a word that gets used and abused in a variety of ways. But while much of the discussion around it may seem like a relatively modern concern, especially given how quickly the world population is currently growing, as a concept overpopulation can actually be traced back to one person: Thomas Malthus.
In this episode I talk to Dr Ruth Doherty, an expert in the cultural and literary representations of overpopulation. We talk misery and vice, Dickens and Dan Brown, London and the world.
Watch the world population grow: World Population Clock
Guest Profile
Dr Ruth Doherty
Dr Doherty’s profile and research can be found here on academia.edu
Her most recent work is on Reproduction and Infection in Late Nineteenth-Century Fiction, the topic of her talk at Mystery and Medicine: The Dark Side of Science in Victorian Fiction
Music
Come On Live Long (Listen Here)
Album: In The Still (2017)
Tracks (In Order Heard):
Trough
Slipstream
Sum of its Parts
Peak
Slipstream
Works Mentioned
Thomas Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, Hard Times, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend
George Gissing: New Grub Street
H.G. Wells: War of the Worlds
Soylent Green (film)
P.D. James: Children of Men
Elysium (film)
WALL-E (film)
Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake
Dan Brown: Inferno
Utopia (TV series)
Want to know about Mars and H.G. Wells? Check out Episode 5 or this article on Mars.
Intrigued by some of the ways in which medicine, science, and literature interact? Episode 6 looks at how neurasthenia influenced ghost stories and western novels
Or you can browse all the episodes here
If you enjoy the episode and want to find out how to support the show then click here for more information.
Any thoughts or comments on the episode? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below or check out the Words To That Effect Facebook Page