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From about two million years ago until 13,000 years ago,
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there were several human species inhabiting the earth.
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In fact a hundred thousand years ago, there were at least 6 different human species.
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Today, there's just Homo sapiens.
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In this video, we're going to look at some of the key moments in our population growth,
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and what the future looks like.
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As species, Homo sapiens first evolved about 200,000 years ago in East Africa,
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and slowly started out competing our human cousins.
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And about 13,000 years ago, our final cousins were extinct.
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During the past 200,000 years,
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we've grown from one person to the 7.5 billion today.
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What is that population growth been like?
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There have been 3 key revolutions.
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The Cognitive Revolution about 70,000 years ago,
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the Agricultural Revolution 12,000 years ago,
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and the Scientific Revolution of the past 500 years.
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All have been key players in global population.
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Homo sapiens population started to boom about 70,000 years ago,
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driving the other human species to extinction.
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Our ancestors conquered all corners of the earth,
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and started inventing impressive objects.
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The most widely accepted explanation for our ancestors' rapid success
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is a huge improvement in our language abilities
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And, therefore, communication and ability to share information.
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12,000 years ago, at the dawn of Agriculture,
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there were about 5 million people alive.
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Our ancestors started farming some plant and animal species
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to provide them with a reliable supply of energy.
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And this changed how we lived.
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People settled permanently around the fields,
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and populations began to grow much more quickly than ever before.
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We took 2 million years to reach 5 million people.
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And then 10,000 years to reach 1 billion people,
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and that's nothing compared to what was to come.
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Welcome to the Science Revolution.
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200 years ago, the global population was about 1 billion people.
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Now we're at a huge 7.5 billion today.
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And still, every year, there are 83 million more people living on this planet,
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that's the population of the entire of Germany.
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So what's happened in the last few 100 years to enable this rapid population growth?
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It started with a further Agricultural Revolution in Europe in the 1700s.
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And then, the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s.
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The invention of the steam engine increased food production.
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Better employment rates and wages improved quality of health care.
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And standards of living have enabled a massive population boom.
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In simple terms, because there was more food and clean water to go around,
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less disease and best medical care for the sick,
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it meant fewer people died.
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People, that would otherwise have died, survived, increasing the population.
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They then had children themselves, further increasing the population.
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And so the story goes on.
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So what next?
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We're expected to be over 11 billion by the year 2100,
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but the truth is nobody is certain.
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To support the growing population,
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the world's economy is expected to triple in size in this century alone.
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All of this is a massive challenge for the earth's natural resources, biomes, and wildlife.
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Population could continue to grow at its current rate
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creating a world population of over ten billion in the next 30 years.
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For this to happen, there needs to be enough food, water, shelter,
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and a hygiene and good medical health is good.
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Or maybe global population decreases.
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There might be insufficient resources to share.
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Maybe food and water becomes scarce,
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or not enough housing for everyone,
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or medical care that provides diseases and saves lives may not be available to everyone.
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Maybe our irresponsible use of antibiotics today could result in a global epidemic in the near future,
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or our human-induced climate change
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could result in serious droughts or damaging floods; thus, bring in famine or disease with it.
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So this all sounds rather scary, considering 2050 will probably be in most of your lifetimes.
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Before you start panicking and stockpiling food and medicines,
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like you're in a zombie movie,
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remember, even the experts aren't sure.
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We just don't know what's going to happen.
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All we do know is the Earth's population will change over the coming decades.
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To learn about the impacts of humans on our planet,
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and how we can develop and grow in a sustainable way, watch these videos.
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And with a growing population, food security is and will continue to be an important issue,
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which we investigate further in this video.
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If you like the video give it a thumbs up.
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And don't forget to subscribe.
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Comment below if you have any questions.
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Why not check out our Fuseschool app as well?
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Until next time!