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Reader wonders, 'Will we survive?'
Page seven of the Nov. 21 edition of the Sentinel under the heading "Today in History" was a bit about the U.S. population
In 1967 the U.S. population passed 200,000,000 people. I checked with the census bureau and today the U.S. population is 335,747,738 and growing! That is an increase of 135,747,738 people in 56 years!
On the census website (https://www.census.gov/popclock/), it states one person is born every nine seconds and one dies every 10 seconds. One migrant enters the U.S. every 31 seconds which leads to a population increase of one person every 19 seconds.
You may say fascinating, who cares? That's okay it's not earth shaking news but it made me think of baby boomers who lived through the almost doubling of our population.
Think back, how many housing developments have gone up, the interstate highway system was installed, infrastructure of water and sewage, refuse landfills are continuously being expanded. All for more people.
Think back to the 1950-60 era and a trip to Harrisburg or even to State College. Quite a change. I went to football games at PSU when there were wooden bleachers with about 20 rows in the end zone. We were still in the old schools, courthouse, library and jail. The Viscose (shirt) Factory is gone and The Standard is not what it used to be. New industry has arrived and filled the void.
My point is, even with the increase in people, we as a small community and as a nation have changed and adapted to accommodate most of the challenges brought on with millions more people. Can our planet survive this steady increase of people? Yes! We will change along with our environment just as we have adapted over the last 56 years. Our world may not look the same just like the drive over the Seven Mountains without the Devil's Elbow. We will get to Centre County just the same.
We all have much to be thankful for!
Michael C. Spahr