If 100 People Lived on Earth

It would be strangely quiet. Likely boring, too.

But the point of this video (modified slightly from a three-year-old video by GOOD Magazine) is not about there being only 100 people: 100 is small enough to visualize and understand.

Some of these proportions suffer from rounding more than others, I expect, but it’s still an interesting way to look at who we are as humans and how we share the planet. Another way of considering exactly where we are.

 

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14 Responses to If 100 People Lived on Earth

  1. Tom Watson says:

    Isabel
    That is absolutely fascinating. Thanks.
    Tom

  2. barbara says:

    Of the 127 people who walked by me at the Rideau Centre, about 1 PM Friday,
    52.5% were “white”, the rest “other”. We all got along. 😀

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      Barbara – Good to hear. I’m always alert for reports of disturbances when you go out . . . Things like accosting people for their pocket lint. 🙂

      • barbara says:

        That was over years ago! Now I just listen to their stories which they are so eager to tell. I’m filling up another journal binder with “Stranger Talk” — stay tuned.

  3. Jim Taylor says:

    I used to do something similar, back in the days when I sometimes led workshops for the United Church’s Mission and Service Fund. Assuming there were about 100 people in the room, I’d have them all stand up. Then I’d have a certain number (I don’t recall the details any more, but it was similar to your video clip) sit down because they went to bed hungry that night. A number more, because they couldn’t read or write. A number more, who had no education beyond, say, Grade 6… and so on.
    Usually, I could end up with one or two people left standing, who represented the relatively affluent western nations.
    Churches are really good at “guilt trips.”

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      Jim – LOL. When I did a few talks to schools for Operation Eyesight I did the same thing. Ten stand up representing people with cataracts and then 4 sit down right away because they live where they can get surgery for them. For me the challenge is to try on different perspectives without getting into the negative aspects of guilt.

  4. Barry says:

    I was amazed that the male/female split was 50/50
    That the Christians made up 33%
    That 75% had a phone (I have lessened the split)

    • Isabel Gibson says:

      Barry – IKR? I seem to remember that in the North American adult population the male/female split is 48/52. But then you have to account for the Chinese, whose live births disproportionately favour males, or so I’ve heard. And the phone could be because many in the developing world use it for banking/cash – they have no access to bricks & mortar banks.

  5. I’ve heard of multilinguals but that cohort speaking thousands of languages is a record-breaker, for sure!
    🙂

    This is a clear and simple way of presenting some facts about what we tend to take for granted.

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