> home
> About
> Contact Us
> Editorial Info
> IEEE-USA

03.11

By Terrance Malkinson

In its World Population Forecasts, the United Nations Population Division predicts that in late 2011 — specifically on 26 August — the world’s population will reach seven billion people.  In "Popluation 7 Billion" [National Geographic, 219(1):32-63, January 2011,  www.ngm.com], Robert Kunzig  discusses issues associated with our expanding global population, projected to grow at about 80 million annually.  Topic highlights include: historical thoughts on the world population, the process of population growth, cartograms of national population growth, cartograms of national consumption of earth’s resources, and projections for the future. 

Why is the world’s population of concern to us?  As Kunzig points out, “close to a billion people go hungry each day.”  Huge populations live in poverty, particularly in under-developed countries. The British scholar Thomas Malthus (1766 – 1834) is known for his theories concerning population and its increase or decrease in response to various factors. The six editions of his An Essay on the Principle of Population suggested that sooner or later population gets checked by famine and disease.

What is the environmental effect on the planet of this increasing number of humans? In addition to consumption of scarce natural resources, one might also consider the contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide. An increasing human population, through the respiratory process, absorbs oxygen in the lungs for use in body cells and exhales carbon dioxide into the environment as a waste product of human cellular metabolism.

It is difficult to predict how many people the earth can support.  Many in the past have forecast apocalyptic warnings at specific numbers and have been proven wrong.  As Kunzig states in his conclusion, "our planet’s maximal human capacity is unanswerable at the present time and may well depend on the choices yet to make and ideas we have yet to have." Engineers have played, and will continue to play, a leading role in these choices to be made and ideas yet to have. For example, Engineers Without Borders  helps its member groups develop their capacity to assist poor communities in their respective countries and create new generations of global engineers.

Kunzig's article is the first of an in-depth series that National Geographic will publish this year forecasting what our planet might look like in 2045. 

Other Bytes

Here are some of the things going on in and around the community:

• An article by David Kaplan in FORTUNE magazine introduces its annual listing of the best companies to work for. [163(2):78-101. February 7, 2011. www.fortune.com ]. In this introductory article the author discusses the working environment in three of the highly ranked companies – Aeropostal, Haasbro, and Nustar Energy.  The ranking follows this introduction. Leading as they did last year is SAS, followed by Boston Consulting Group and Wegmans Food Markets.  A short profile of each of the 100 companies is provided and an indication as to whether the company is currently hiring new employees. 

• In the same issue of FORTUNE Peter Elkind and David Whitford provide an in-depth investigative report on one of the worst industrial disasters in history - the BP Gulf Oil disaster [“An Accident Waiting to Happen”. pp. 105-132].  This comprehensive report analyses the event from its antecedent environment to where we are now.

• As the economy of the United States recovers, community colleges are positioning themselves to provide training programs in emerging technologies and industrial education.  Corey Murray discusses employment opportunities and how community colleges are meeting the need for a skilled and well-paid industrial labor force [“Trading Up”. Community College Journal. 81(3):24-27. January, 2011.  www.ccjournal-digital.com ].  Technological change is requiring considerable more expertise from employees in the industrial trades.  The line between blue and white color work is disappearing.  Community colleges have the elasticity to quickly create or adapt existing programs to meet the rapidly changing needs of the industrial workplace and this is often accomplished with the assistance of industry advisory boards.

• A feature report on Biomass as a fuel for the 21^st century is provided in Green Building Magazine [20(3):30-53. Winter, 2010.  www.greenbuildingmagazine.co.uk ].   A series of articles describe how biomass from forestry sourced wood can be a natural and renewable fuel, grown and harvested in a manner that is not at the expense of other uses for wood.  Woodlands have multiple benefits for the world including use as a fuel.  Some advantages of biomass as a fuel discussed in the articles include; it can be grown locally close to where the energy is needed, is energy secure, requires simple technology, and is environmentally protective.  Many case studies are presented where wood has been successfully used as a fuel.  Other topics discussed in the feature report include biomass technology adoption and a discussion forum on whether biomass is actually a green fuel or not.

• In a special infrastructure report Aileen Cho describes the construction of three subway transit extension tunnels in New York City. [“Cavernous Crusades”. Engineering News-Record.  266(4):26-33. February 7, 2011. www.enr.com ].  Following many years of planning and negotiation three giant tunnel boring machines are now at work deep beneath New York City to meet the demands of hundreds of thousands future commuters.  Many engineering firsts are associated with this multi-billion dollar project.  One of these is the use of “ground-freezing technique to overcome the challenges of soft and wet soil when boring through these segments. This is the first time that tunnel boring machines have successfully excavated through frozen ground. The project is expected to be finished in 2016.

• A large and rapidly increasing number of people now use mobile devices to access the Internet. Jamie Seeholzer and Joseph Salem have explored through focus groups student use and expectations for an academic library’s mobile web site.  [“Library on the Go: A Focus Group Study of the Mobile Web and the Academic Library” College and Research Libraries. 72(1):9-20. January, 2011]. It was found that students expressed an interest in accessing the library catalogue, research databases and references services.  They also preferred contacting and being contacted by the library using text messaging. This report provides many insights into how to design a libraries mobile website.

• Obesity is on the verge of becoming the biggest single factor in early death with an estimated one-third of adults in the United States classified as obese by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Considerable research has and is being undertaken to understand the neurological, metabolic and genetic basis of obesity.  David Freedman discusses the complexities and challenges associated with this important problem.  He suggests that behaviour-focused studies of obesity and diets have identified conditions that appear to be correlated with success in losing weight and keeping it off. He concludes that there is “no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of obesity” in “How to Fix the Obesity Crisis”.  [Scientific American. 304(2):40-47. February, 2011. www.scientificAmerican.com  ]

• Anne Morriss, Robin J. Ely, and Frances Frei report on their research on why many people fail to achieve their leadership potential because they unintentionally get in their own way. [Harvard Business Review. Vol. 89(1/2):160-163. Jan-Feb, 2011. www.hbr.org ]. Based on their experience with a wide variety of organizations they identified five barriers preventing good managers from becoming good leaders. These include overemphasis on personal goals, protecting your personal public image, turning their competitors into two-dimensional enemies, failure to solicit support and advice, and waiting for permission to lead.  The authors conclude “being a leader means making an active decision to lead”

Terrance Malkinson is a communications specialist, business analyst and futurist. He is currently an international correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer, an associate editor for IEEE Canadian Review, and a member of the editorial advisory board of IEEE The Institute. He was Vice-Chair of the IEEE-USA Communications Committee (2004-2010), and editor-in-chief of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Digest (2004-2008). He was an elected Senator of the University of Calgary and an elected Governor of the IEEE Engineering Management Society as well as an elected Administrative Committee member of the IEEE Professional Communication Society. He has been the editor of several IEEE conference proceedings, and past editor of IEEE Engineering Management. He is the author of more than 420 publications, and is an accomplished triathlete. His career path includes being an accomplished technical supervisor and medical researcher at the University of Calgary a business proposal manager for the General Electric Company, an associate for Sears Canada Inc. and research administrator with the School of Health and Public Safety/Applied Research and Innovation Services at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary Canada.

The author is grateful to the professional support of the Haskayne School of Business Library at the University of Calgary. He can be reached at todaysengineer@ieee.org.