If everyone lived in the Mediterranean Climate zones?

Question

I define Mediterranean Climate zones with the Köppen climate classification system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_climate). But only the coastal region area (up to 2km back from the coastline).

What would be the density if all the world's population moved to these zones? (8 billion people in the coastline including 2km back area)

What would be the implications, positive and negative?

The idea is, that living in a Mediterranean Climate would be more efficient for food production, less need for heating, and generally healthier living conditions among others. Also a close proximity to the coast would provide a good system for transportation etc.

Answer 1

The area available for habitation as described in your question would be about 70,000 square kilometres. Into this comparatively small area would be the seven billion inhabitants of Earth, thus the population density would be some 100,000 persons per square kilometre. For comparison purposes, the most densely populated area of the planet is the city of Manila which has a pop density of 46,000/km², New York City has a population density of 10,000/km², London is 5,000/km².



Another way to look at it would be to divide the land area between the population, this would mean that each person would have just ten square metres available to them.



To overcome this you would need to build upwards. If every person were to inhabit a tiny one room apartment in a 300 storey skyscraper you’d just about manage to have enough land left over to grow high yield crops for feeding the population. There would be no space left for infrastructure, recreation facilities, schools, hospitals, factories etc. To be practical you’d probably need an area at least 100 times the size, the population density would then be the same as Bangladesh – the most densely populated sizeable country in the world.



From your question it appears that you’re in the UK. As such, you’ll know that there’s already a problem due to a shortage of land, and that’s with 62 million people in 244,000km². Your proposal would require more than 100 times as many people living in an area less than one third the size of the UK. In short, it would be the equivalent of increasing the UK’s population some 392 time over, to 24 billion.



The ideas behind your suggestion are of merit but there are a lot of practical issues, besides population density, that need to be considered.



For food production alone it’s estimated that the minimum area per person is 700 square metres. This figure assumes adequate water supply, no land degradation, the planting of maximum yield crops, no losses and no post-harvest waste. Given that all these things happen from time to time you’d need to have at least 1,000 square metres of farming and agricultural land for each person. In total this amounts to 7 million square kilometres, an area 100 times the size outlined in your question; about the same size as Russia or twice the size of the US. And this is just to produce food.

Answer 2

Define Mediterranean Climate

Answer 3

The Mediterranean isn't quite the bonanza you think it is. Look around the Mediterranean itself, and its history, you have a bare scratchy existence, the most violent area in history as the differing nations massacred each other for millenia over the scarce fertile areas around rivers and their valleys.

Look at the Geography, how much dry sandy soil there is, as topsoil cant stay during the dry season. Besides Italy and Turkey, you have all historically poor nations. And Italy's wealth is all concentrated in the North, which is temperate, and built around the Po river valley and its tributaries, watered by Alpine snowmelt.

The Mediterranean is of course, the most comfortable climate, a paradise to visit, I love it, Im from Greece. My country of origin has ALWAYS been poor, the inhabitants scratching out a bare living from dry rocky soil. Even in its golden age. During those years of artistic and cultural magnificence, Greeks were spitting out much of the population to build colonies as far as Marseilles, France, most of Sicily and South Italy, the black sea coast of Ukraine. Because the land was incapable of feeding the inhabitants, Greeks imported a large percentage of its staple wheat, paid for by exports of olive oil, wine, and silver from Athens Laurium mines.

There is a reason the Temperate zone of Europe - France, England, Germany, Russia created the Global superpowers that conquered the Americas in 1500-1600's, and the rest of the world in the 1800's. Mediteranean Spain's dominance was very short, eclipsed by 1700, Temperate is WAY more productive, the rainfall keeping the rich black soils in place. Why do you think USA became a superpower and its main rival was Russia? Possession of vast amounts of fertile land, in a temperate zone as well as blessed with almost every resource an Industrial Economy could use.

Mediteranean climate is DRY. Little or no rainfall. The coast is beautiful, but barren. Maybe what your dreaming of is the subtropical climate of the American south, which is very productive.

And what are you thinking when you say the population should "Move to these zones"? Do you imagine the area to be as empty as the vast square states of the USA? You can tell what areas can be settled and can produce food by the amount of green vegetation growing wild. In the temperate zone of Europe and America, the sides of the road, and vacant lots in the cities are covered and overgrown with wild grasses (what a lawn owner calls weeds) and trees sprout out of nothing. Even the cracks in the sidewalk sprout green. Pay attention to population concentration historically; The breadbaskets of the Earth are the centers of the highest populations. Why do 2.3 billion people live in China and India and not the Mediteranean? Subtropical rice production, high rainfall and hence, many river valleys.

Answer 4

Isn't the cost of living there high enough? You are talking about some of the highest-priced residential real estate in the world.



Food production would be impossible if the entire world population were crammed into the Mediterranean climate zone. All the land would be needed for apartment buildings and infrastructure. Their body heat would make air conditioning mandatory. And the crowding would negate any supposed "healthier living conditions". Can you imagine how quickly a disease would spread?

Answer 5

If everyone lived in Mediterranean climate zones, that would put an end to people actually wanting Earth to warm, because no one would experience cold winters. However, we would still need to farm temperate and tropical regions because Mediterranean climates cover only a limited area and are fairly dry. With global warming, it would be like that in most of the world, but to be able to feed everybody, it would be better to move people to Mediterranean climates than to move Mediterranean climates to people.

Answer 6

I think, We will be ALL RELATIVES,with Each other without any Differential Communities, Mingled with ALL RELIGIONS, with Big Families, with Scrambled Multiple Beds in the Single Rooms,without Place to Move Freely, But Living in the WORLD‘‘S OVER ALL BIGGEST SLUM, and Enjoying Other Places for the TOURISM.

Other wise, We will Becomes, So Many, Israel and Palestine WAR ZONES and Fighting with Each Other for the SEPARATION,and Will be Succumbed to the BOMB CULTURE.

Answer 7

Humans would drown in their own waste ... and trash! And the packaging manufacturers would have a 'field day'!

Answer 8

id emigrate to Africa.