Who’s got extra beds? Millions of people are on the road this year, as refugees or as economic migrants. In the USA, opponents of immigration reform often ask why they should welcome strangers, and ask me if I would open my own home and my own bedroom to violent rapist strangers? Leaving aside from the over-heated stereotyping, I’d like to ask a different question. Who’s got extra beds? The global population is about 7.2 billion wonderful people. The land available for living space – that is, “arable land,” excluding Antarctica, Mount Everest, Death Valley, and other rugged and inhospitable environments – is about 20 million square kilometers. So, globally, population density in arable land is about 360 people per square kilometer. Hong Kong is denser – over 130,000 per square kilometer. Who’s got arable land to spare? Emphatically, this is NOT a policy recommendation. It doesn’t make...
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Showing posts from September, 2014