Does it bother you at all that we are overpopulating the Earth?

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

There are plenty of resources and space if we build up. The problem is bad resource management, not using resources sustainably, not using sustainable material(ie we need a plastic substitute), better allocation and distribution of resources. Also can people stop using the term save the planet when it comes to anything like this or the environment. Planet Earth will still be here after all plant life and human life etc is gone. It makes people seem like hippies to say it that way and it doesn't hit home properly. It is not the Earth we are saving it is us and our food. So if you like your bacon you know what to do.

Trouble is, some people will dismiss you as a "hippie" if you say anything about resource management or sustainability.

That said: bacon? I'd like to say that the answer is farming kunekune pigs, since they grow fast and can live on grass and table scraps. But there are some issues with that breed right off the bat: They're small (not much pork there) and they're docile and cute (people might end up making pets out of them instead of eating them).

So...we may have to start experimenting with cloned tissue.

I have a solution for that. Either make them ugly genetically or don't show people how they die. While I and other may have the stomach to know about certain things I doubt many people have even seen an animal(hunted for food of course) being killed.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

The simplest and easiest way to be sustainable and not face shortages of resources is massive depopulation. That way also, the level of CO2 we pump out could actually be processed by the planet naturally.

The fact is there are finite resources on the earth. Technology can only increase crop yields to a certain point. Worse, some less economically developed countries are having to export food to feed the Western world. As a result global population won't react to a limited food supply by plateauing and instead just create more famine in the undeveloped world. But famine is the least of your worries. Water, oil, uranium and trace metals are being exploited beyond reasonable constraints.

Technology can't solve every problem. If we rely on it too much, we also face a more divided world between the technology have and the technology have-nots.

The one child policy didn't work, it skewed the population and every world government are unlikely to comply with it. Genocide isn't really an alternative...I have no solutions.

EDIT: Space colonisation isn't a viable option yet and comes back to my point as tech as a cop-out for being wasteful.

 

[Fleaman]

hey lady, hey lady, hey lady, hey lady, hey lady.

let's go to space.

 

[pwnzerstick]

THIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8

 

[pulse2]

But consider if every family in the world only had ONE child each. Well then the population would decline... but is that possible to achieve on a large scale?

Sex education does wonders.

Yeah done wonders for AIDS in Africa... problem is that the education is already horrible in the countries that would need it the most

I doubt it is just the lack of education, women are frequently raped and left with babies to look after in these places as abortion is expensive. Couples who know better still have a problem because contraception is also expensive, so unless the entirety of these third world countries just stopped having sex (which won't happen) it will continue to increase, aids included.

Besides, talking about democracy and human rights, who are we to go over there and impose our opinions on them about their sex lives?

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

I have a solution for that. Either make them ugly genetically or don't show people how they die. While I and other may have the stomach to know about certain things I doubt many people have even seen an animal(hunted for food of course) being killed.

The trouble with trying to breed the cute out of kunekune pigs is that it might also degrade the qualities that make them efficient. So if kunekune pigs are the solution, anyone involved with slaughtering them would have to be able to be pragmatic about it.

It would also be best if said slaughter were handled quickly and cleanly. But that's a separate issue.

 

[CrazyMedic]

a very involved topic. To keep this short I'll answer the direct question. 1 child policy. Sure. Though not all pregnancies are preplanned. Abortion can have serious mental repercussions in parents.

now in china that is bad idea because of the whole you have to a son to support you thing but in most devolped countries this would very well but we wouldn't need to implment it right away the first thing we should do is make organic farming illegal so we can produce more cheap food for the 3rd world.

 

[OctoH]

I do not plan on having kids, so no it does not really bother me. No worries since I will be dead long before it becomes that much of an issue.

 

[Harmondale2]

SPACE!! Lets go to Space!! Problem solved, dur

But really its the only solution I can see, I don't want to see our species die out on this rock, either by overpopulation, simply killing eachother off, or cosmic disasters.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

If you don't realise how bad the resource problem is:

( Clearer picture - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FM71j6-VkNE/Sf3Xvv_RUWI/AAAAAAAACT0/he4IE8u-be4/s1600/resource%2Bdepletion.jpg Original source New Scientist.)

 

[Thyunda]

Overpopulation bothers me in the same way that our problems with oil dependency and fresh water shortage does. These are huge problems that we will likely only seriously address after it's way way too late (someone could argue that it is too late to safely address these issues already). I feel the country I live in (Canada) is doing far too little about these issues simply because they are so large in scale and because the immediate threat does not yet exist here.

I'm entirely in favor of a one child per family law. Families who want more than one child could either adopt without penalty...or have another child given the appropriate tax penalty. The idea would be to limit multi-children households to those families that can provide a proper upbringing and environment for them. For example, if a family wanted a second child they would have to pay the government a deposit of $250,000 dollars. In addition to this, their tax rate would increase to help cover the additional resources their child burdens on society until 18.

In theory at least, upper class families would populate the world with more kids who are more likely to afford proper schooling and have a much greater chance of contributing to society better than the lower class. At least that's my opinion (coming from someone living below poverty level for what it's worth).

So essentially...if you're poor, you cannot have more than one child. That's definitely going to reinforce class barriers. Coming from living below the poverty level, surely you don't think like that. I don't think the upper classes have any more right to bear children than the lower. Especially not if this is the kind of attitude it breeds.

 

[FoolKiller]

Not really. The Earth will take care of itself and nature will run its course. Famine and disease will kick in and will help with population controls

 

[Lilani]

-snip-

Really, we aren't 100% sure of what exactly the population is, as it is very hard to account for all of the native people living deep in the farthest reaches of Africa and whatnot. I think implementing that sort of system without having all the facts is like burning your house down because you think you saw a snake go under the porch.

Not to mention it would take a lot more than just laws to reverse that sort of a problem, if it is eventually found to be a real and present danger. There are still a staggering number of people around the globe who thing any sort of contraception is a sin, and that a woman's only purpose is to sit at home and pop out babies all day. No amount of legal reform can cause social reform. If anything, it will just make them more set in their ways.

So I think before we start discussing who is worth keeping and who needs to go, we should first work on getting the third world countries up to speed. Then, if necessary, begin discussions on population control. But hopefully by then we will have the technology and resources to colonize Mars, so it won't be as big of an issue.

 

[aba1]

I think most people aspire to have kids at some point in our life, but as innocent an aspiration it may be, its having a detrimental impact on the Earth and our living standards. Whether we like it or not, we are having more babies then dying, all the while trying to find ways to live longer, to have more kids...who is feeding all those children? I suppose our generation doesn't need to care that much because it isn't effecting us, but what about our grandchildren? We as the human race have destroyed quite a bit of what keeps us living, so I'm led to wonder at which point we will get so desperate to live that even the remainder of that is destroyed as well.

Anywho, how do you think we could go about resolving this issue and if your government initiated a single child policy tomorrow for example, would it bother you at all?

actually I'm glad im not the only one everytime I hear people say how they want big families n lots of kids it makes me want to say something but I don't want to be a dick. At least as long as everyone has 2 or less kids the population cannot grow

 

[michiehoward]

No it doesn't, because we aren't overpopulating the earth.

 

[aba1]

Overpopulation bothers me in the same way that our problems with oil dependency and fresh water shortage does. These are huge problems that we will likely only seriously address after it's way way too late (someone could argue that it is too late to safely address these issues already). I feel the country I live in (Canada) is doing far too little about these issues simply because they are so large in scale and because the immediate threat does not yet exist here.

I'm entirely in favor of a one child per family law. Families who want more than one child could either adopt without penalty...or have another child given the appropriate tax penalty. The idea would be to limit multi-children households to those families that can provide a proper upbringing and environment for them. For example, if a family wanted a second child they would have to pay the government a deposit of $250,000 dollars. In addition to this, their tax rate would increase to help cover the additional resources their child burdens on society until 18.

In theory at least, upper class families would populate the world with more kids who are more likely to afford proper schooling and have a much greater chance of contributing to society better than the lower class. At least that's my opinion (coming from someone living below poverty level for what it's worth).

So essentially...if you're poor, you cannot have more than one child. That's definitely going to reinforce class barriers. Coming from living below the poverty level, surely you don't think like that. I don't think the upper classes have any more right to bear children than the lower. Especially not if this is the kind of attitude it breeds.

I think what he is getting at is that people should be having kids they can't afford to begin with...

 

[cp2u]

here's hans Rosling, a pretty smart guy, on the topic of population growth at a TED talk. He really knows his stuff.

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth.html

 

[Shadowtek]

yea, it is sad that this is happening. because ONLY STUPID PEOPLE ARE EXCESSIVELY BREEDING! The world is filling up with stupid people, this is sad.

 

[William MacKay]

No it doesn't, because we aren't overpopulating the earth.

could you explain that?
yes it does worry me. it also worries me that people dont realise its happening...

 

[Averant]

I remember hearing that the entire population of earth can fit in the state of texas with each person having at least a trailer park of room to themselves.

That ain't overpopulation, folks. That's called we're not spreading out/ not compacting enough.

Take this with a grain of salt, citation needed here.

EDIT:

yea, it is sad that this is happening. because ONLY STUPID PEOPLE ARE EXCESSIVELY BREEDING! The world is filling up with stupid people, this is sad.

This reminds me of an xkcd...