Happy World Population Day!

Image: Steve Jurvetson

Yes, I know, many people see the world population of 6.7 billion as a reason for alarm and though I do agree that, given our current resources, the population should be controlled, I disagree with painting too bleak a picture.

After all the more people there are, the better the chances that we'll put our minds together and come up with simple and effective solutions to the world's problems. I see each person as an opportunity, not a problem.

And I've taken a look at crowds and what motivates us to crowd and found (apart from seasonal sales): entertainment, sports, opportunity, religious beliefs and common goals and destinations.

There's more, of course. What do you think? What's your motivation for rubbing shoulders with strangers, often for hours?

Here's more on what I found on crowds, some amazing images from then and now. The image above is of the torch relay in Shenzen, China, at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The focus of the 20th World Population Day is on girls' and women's education and health. "Fight poverty - educate girls!"

10 Potentially Deadly Yet Strangly Beautiful Mega Metros

Image of Mexico City via Fairfield University

Here's an article I worked on for quite some time and that taught me a lot, for example about the types of issues big cities have to deal with like

• air pollution
• chemicals
• crime
• industry
• murder
• natural disasters
• nuclear waste
• sanitation
• water pollution

Not to mention transportation. It's fascinating and scary at the same time to see how megacities operate. In fact, if there's a city with 20 million people, it will have a whole new set of problems than a smaller one that might be running smoothly. It's like having children - the more you have, the more problems you have but also the more joy. Everything just multiplies.

So after studying the Blacksmith Institute's "Dirty Thirty" and similar resources, I came up with my list of, well, not the "Dirty Dozen" but a Top Ten of Deadliest Metros (in alpha order) and one main environmental issue:

1. Beijing, China - air pollution coupled with dust storms
2. Buenos Aires, Argentina - flood-prone due to geographic location
3. Cairo, Egypt - worst air pollution
4. Caracas, Venezuela - world's murder capital
5. Dhaka, Bangladesh - worst water pollution
6. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - huge sanitation problem
7. Johannesburg, South Africa - crime capital
8. Mexico City, Mexico - industries fuel air pollution
9. Moscow, Russia - nuclear waste problem
10. New Delhi, India - toxins and chemicals in water

As is the case with all lists, it will change as new data becomes available. And, of course, there were many other contenders like Manila, Mumbai and even London and Athens. So rather than point fingers at these ten, the article wants to highlight one problem each of the megacities is battling with. And underline their strange beauty.

Here's the full article including many sources.

Amazing Sand Patterns by Crabs

Today just a quick post about something truly amazing - sand art by crabs! You've all seen it at the beach, those little balls of sand, scattered randomly around crab holes. Turns out that they often form beautiful images, by chance one wonders?

The sand bubbler crabs actually sift the sand, still wet from the receding tide, to look for nutrients and anything edible. The already sifted sand is rolled into little balls or bubbles so that they don't look through it again. Pretty smart!

Which proves that it pays to not always have our noses up in the sky but to check what's happening on the ground too.

The first picture was taken by a friend of mine at Ganapatipule beach in Maharashtra, India, and the second one at a beach in Bintan, Indonesia, by flickr user modery.

Let me know if you have seen a similar compilation of crab sand art anywhere on the Net - I know there are artists inspired by it but I haven't seen an article about it. In fact, it did require some research to find the information why these crabs roll the sand balls. Here's the full article with more pictures.

Thanks and enjoy!