MARCH 11, 2009 11:52AM

Overpopulation

Rate: 1 Flag

 

I just finished reading an article on Alternet entitled:

Are We Breeding Ourselves to Extinction?

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted March 11, 2009.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/130843/are_we_breeding_ourselves_to_extinction/

 

The author makes the point that working on the climate crisis is futile without doing more to limit population.   It seems like we should be able to admit that we have widely succeeded as a species as need to do more to ensure long-term viability both of humans and our natural wilderness.  Who wants to live in a world that is overpopulated with humans without the wonder of nature.  This is an area where I feel that religions are causing problems by being overly concerned about what women do to control their reproductive lives and doing too little to preserve our planet.  While I do not think that we need to be as draconian as China, there needs to by policies that discourage large families for those that want children and discouraging people who are on the fence from having children.  Some European countries already have zero population growth and we should examine what policies have encouraged that to occur.

 

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The whole fear of overpopulation is totally overblown. Ehrlich made that mistake years ago with his "Population Bomb."
perdidochas
March 11, 2009 01:03 PM
Actually the fear of overpopulation is not at all overblown. Paul Ehrlich was probably premature instead of wrong. The spike in oil, metals, and food prices back in 07/08 proved that Ehrlich could have been right after all. Luckily(!) the Great Recession temporarily dialed back those price spikes. But you would be foolish to bet against those conditions coming back when the economy revives.
Another point I want to make is that overpopulation is a serious problem.... but not in the first world, and not in the US particularly.
icemilkcoffee
March 11, 2009 10:53 PM