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Old 01-05-2016, 11:27 AM
 
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When we're thinking of global problems we have (weather, pollution, poverty, war...etc.) it seems governments, politicians and scientists are overlooking the real problem.

I think Earth is massively overpopulated.

Providing necessary wealth and prosperity is almost impossible.

Billions of people living without drinking water and food.

Can't we tackle all these issues with some sort of control mechanism??

It seems whole world will turn into a Mad Max land with all animals wiped out except dogs, cats , rats and fish

So sad to see that people are largely ignoring this
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Old 01-05-2016, 11:43 AM
 
Location: Howard County, Maryland
16,581 posts, read 10,686,396 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J.Thomas View Post
When we're thinking of global problems we have (weather, pollution, poverty, war...etc.) it seems governments, politicians and scientists are overlooking the real problem.

I think Earth is massively overpopulated.

Providing necessary wealth and prosperity is almost impossible.

Billions of people living without drinking water and food.

Can't we tackle all these issues with some sort of control mechanism??

It seems whole world will turn into a Mad Max land with all animals wiped out except dogs, cats , rats and fish

So sad to see that people are largely ignoring this

Are you under the age of 40? I ask because back in the 1970s, fear of overpopulation was all the rage. Are you familiar with The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich? This best-selling book, published in 1968, predicted that massive overpopulation would result in all kinds of environmental degradations and despoilations by . . . oh, say 1980 or so. Oops, didn't happen.

Human beings, when given a free hand, have a clever habit of finding ways of benefiting themselves by benefiting others. Thus, revolutionary changes in agriculture and dramatic improvements in food distribution have resulted in the world's food supply growing at rates greater than the population increases and becoming ever-more available to ever-more people. Yes, there are still famines in the world; but they are usually the result of governmental interference or man-made disasters (i.e. wars) than of natural causes.

Incidentally, billions of people are not living without drinking water and food, because if they were, they would be dead. But it's interesting that you mention this, because famines and diseases and disasters (both natural and man-made) are precisely the "control mechanisms" that have historically been the most effective in thinning out the ranks of human-kind. Is this what you advocate?
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Old 01-05-2016, 12:14 PM
 
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I am familiar yes but i think these concerns were, at time, premature.

Advances in agriculture surely helped but not anymore i think.

Today we have way too many people and feeding these is also not the prime mission.

This overpopulation is creating massive pollution and triggering extinction event.

'Without Doubt,' a Sixth Mass Extinction Event is Here : News : Nature World News

Everyone is banking on technology to cure these problems but how can one be sure that these solutions will arrive on time??
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Old 01-05-2016, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Howard County, Maryland
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OP, I'm sure you're aware that China had long practiced a "control mechanism" known as the One Child Policy. It is true that this policy has resulted in quite a few million fewer Chinese than there would have otherwise been. But ask anyone who was forced to have an abortion, or forced to be sterilized, or forced to give up their child for adoption, or forced to pay crippling fines, or thrown in jail, if they approved of these policies.

Or, ask the Chinese government if they still think it's a good idea. They've come to realize that the social disruption, antagonism of their populace, major gender imbalance, and loss of future workers to run their economy is, all in all, a bad thing; and at long last they've rescinded the policy.

So there we have a real-world example of an enforced population-control measure. And it didn't work.

Actually, though, there are two non-coercive strategies that, when employed together, have been shown to to be highly effective at reducing populations: affluence and secularism. Simply put, non-religious rich people have far fewer children than do poor believers.
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Old 01-05-2016, 01:38 PM
 
12,030 posts, read 9,361,548 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J.Thomas View Post
When we're thinking of global problems we have (weather, pollution, poverty, war...etc.) it seems governments, politicians and scientists are overlooking the real problem.

I think Earth is massively overpopulated.

Providing necessary wealth and prosperity is almost impossible.

Billions of people living without drinking water and food.

Can't we tackle all these issues with some sort of control mechanism??

It seems whole world will turn into a Mad Max land with all animals wiped out except dogs, cats , rats and fish

So sad to see that people are largely ignoring this
Practically all Europeans countries have a fertility rate that is way below 2.3 which is needed just to maintain current population levels. At this rate Europeans will become extinct.

Chinese are now heading to a population which is quite old with few young people due to the one child per couple mandate. They got rid of the one child per couple.

India used to have a fertility rate of around six in the 1950s and this has gone down dramatically to 2- 3 per couple.

The only part of the world that has high reproduction rates is sub Sahara Africa.

The predictions of doom related to over population were exaggerated.
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Old 01-05-2016, 02:43 PM
 
4,231 posts, read 3,566,427 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Julian658 View Post
Practically all Europeans countries have a fertility rate that is way below 2.3 which is needed just to maintain current population levels. At this rate Europeans will become extinct.

Chinese are now heading to a population which is quite old with few young people due to the one child per couple mandate. They got rid of the one child per couple.

India used to have a fertility rate of around six in the 1950s and this has gone down dramatically to 2- 3 per couple.

The only part of the world that has high reproduction rates is sub Sahara Africa.

The predictions of doom related to over population were exaggerated.
So you think population will fall at some time??

I'm checking projections by UN and others and they say it will hit 10 billion maybe 11.

We're not seeing any decrease
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Old 01-05-2016, 02:59 PM
 
12,030 posts, read 9,361,548 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J.Thomas View Post
So you think population will fall at some time??

I'm checking projections by UN and others and they say it will hit 10 billion maybe 11.

We're not seeing any decrease
The population is decreasing in developed countries. In most European countries and Canada the rate of fertility is not enough to maintain population. IN the USA is also quite low. That is why these countries allow immigrants, they are in desperate need of young people.
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Old 01-05-2016, 03:21 PM
 
Location: Oregon, formerly Texas
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A more prosperous world would reduce the population in due course. More affluent societies have fewer kids.

We have plenty of resources on this world. Enough to comfortably hold 11-12 Billion probably.The problem is not our raw amount of resources, it's the distribution of them. Essentially, we are our own worst enemies.

Ie: The sun drops more energy on the Sahara Desert in a week than the entire world uses in a year. We have the technology to harvest it, today. I mean right now, yesterday. You won't see anyone propose investing a few Trillion to develop massive solar farms and transmission infrastructure, though, because those countries in Saharan Africa are a mess, unstable. Plus, no one wants to give those crap countries, currently very poor, ownership of the world's energy. The countries that currently have energy resources will suck out every last drop of oil from every sand dune and rock before they do that.
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Old 01-05-2016, 04:49 PM
 
12,030 posts, read 9,361,548 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57 View Post
A more prosperous world would reduce the population in due course. More affluent societies have fewer kids.

We have plenty of resources on this world. Enough to comfortably hold 11-12 Billion probably.The problem is not our raw amount of resources, it's the distribution of them. Essentially, we are our own worst enemies.

Ie: The sun drops more energy on the Sahara Desert in a week than the entire world uses in a year. We have the technology to harvest it, today. I mean right now, yesterday. You won't see anyone propose investing a few Trillion to develop massive solar farms and transmission infrastructure, though, because those countries in Saharan Africa are a mess, unstable. Plus, no one wants to give those crap countries, currently very poor, ownership of the world's energy. The countries that currently have energy resources will suck out every last drop of oil from every sand dune and rock before they do that.
I agree!




The fertility rate is only out of control in Sub Sahara Africa. The rest of the world is decreasing the fertility rate.
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Old 01-05-2016, 06:06 PM
 
3,463 posts, read 5,669,549 times
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I agree OP. I think almost every ill ours and all other society faces today has some basis in overpopulation. We have more than doubled it since the 70's. We are coming up on 8 BILLION PEOPLE!!! We lost the ability to sustain ourselves in the 90's. Humans practicing Feral cat style breeding is our undoing. The world is going to look like Calcutta to our next generation.
C'mon people, spay and neuter your human!!!
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