The world’s population has reached (and now surpassed) seven billion. We may not have had a hand at creating the seven billionth human being (it’s also nearly impossible to pin point the exact baby), but let us all welcome this new joy into our family (homonidae).

When the one billionth song was downloaded by Alex Ostrovsky (“Speed of Sound” by Coldplay), he was given ten iPods, an iMac, and a $10,000 music gift card. Not to mention, a scholarship to Julliard was established in his name.

So what’s our prize?

With this landmark arrival comes a wave of skepticism.

• Does the earth have enough resources to provide for that many people?
• How can we educate everyone?
• What can we do about overpopulation?
• Are we sustainable?

Even new problems have arisen.

There are 43 million girls missing (The Huffington Post, 2011).

According to some demographers, this is a result from sex-selective abortions. In some countries, such as China and India, the ratio of males to females is askew. This may lead to serious societal consequences down the line. “It would be a fitting moment if the 7 billionth baby is a girl born in rural India. It would help in bringing the global focus back on girls, who are subject to inequality and bias.” Said gynecologist Dr. Madhu Gupta.

Babies are stressful, but I think it’s fair to say this baby is the most stress inducing baby in the world. It’s bringing up new and old problems we’ve struggled to deal with since the beginning of industrialism.

But let’s look at it this way. Right now we’re look at this baby as the straw that broke the camels back.

Yes, we have a distribution problem. Yes, our cities are overpopulated and people are displaced. Yes, our world is chaotic. And yes, in the worlds of Christian Sirano, our world is a hot mess (hello, global warming!).

But there’s still time to fix it. Let’s change our approach and instead of fretting over these problems and spewing out overwhelming doomsday dates, let’s proactively work to tackle these issues.

So back to the original question, what’s our prize? Inspiration to make change? Hope for a better future? Second, third, fourth, or fifth chances? A lifetime supply of diapers

With projections of 8 billion projected for 2025 there will be a plethora of babies and whatever babies produce. I’ll take the lifetime supply of diapers, but it’s up to you to decide what you want to do.

Stay hungry my friends,

Arianna