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Originally Posted by Jason S  ALG, So you've made trade-offs... eg, by building up, not everyone gets a 10 acre plot. |
Well, the question is theoretical for me, because in my reality, it's unlikely that everyone will want a 10 acre plot for himself. Personally, I'd find it rather inconvenient. If my wife had her own 10-acre plot, and my two kids each had their own 10-acre plot, then even if the plots were all next to each other, I'd have to travel quite a bit just to see all of them.
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btw, do you realize that if we reclaimed 24 billion acres (4 acres x 6 billion people), we'd be nearly doubling the planet's inhabitable land mass? Since much of that is ocean, where would you suggest we put all that water?
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Haha .... Well, firstly, you don't necessarily have to reclaim land from the sea. You could simply transform inhospitable terrain into hospitable terrain, and live there. Eg if you converted desert areas and mountainous areas, you could free up a lot of land.
As for the oceans, well, I suppose sea water levels may rise, so we'll just have to build more, and higher, embankments around coastal areas to keep the water out.
Alternatively, as fresh water sources run out together with non-renewable energy sources, we'll have to use the ocean's water for desalination as well as nuclear fission to provide more fresh water and electricity. Desalinated water can be transported to inland reservoirs, lakes etc.
With a bit of luck, global warming will reverse, icebergs in the North Pole and South Pole will grow larger, and sea levels will sink. Or the atmosphere may expand and absorb more water vapour.
Or maybe we'll just have to have floating cities. This one over here:
FOXNews.com - Setting Sail on a Giant, Floating City - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment
will take 17,000 resident families, up to 20,000 daily visitors and 3,000 commercial enterprises, including banks, restaurants, grocery stores, and video-rental places.