ABSTRACT
Deologist Allison R. Palmer wrote a short piece for the predecessor of Geology Today wherein he addressed the question: What should my neighbor know? It was Palmer's clever way to get his audience to think about the challenge of spreading geological knowledge beyond the profession of geology, itself, to the greater world. One good source of information about the growth of population in the world and in the United States can be found at a Web site sponsored by the United States Census Bureau. Of course, to maintain a livable planet, we need to understand the growth of world population and the demands that come with that increase in population. The same Web site that contains the population clock for the United States has a population clock for the world. By the year 2050, world agricultural output must be 50 percent larger than it is today in order to keep pace with world population.
