Human overpopulation is the first and most important problem in the world. Everything else depends on solving it. And feeding everyone is just a temporary fix. Because improvements in food are arithmetical. Overpopulation is exponential. Raising people to the middle class solves overpopulating. Immediately. Providing family planning alone doesn't. In China, no one has a problem with family planning, because most aren't Catholic. And yet they are still overpopulating. But we have to raise the world, or at least the areas of the world in most need of help, to the middle class to solve overpopulation now. That always works to solve this problem. They did it in a city in India once. But we have to do it while there is still enough farmland, to provide the food, to go around. It isn't an inconvenient truth. It's a truth no one seems to talk about anymore. Thoughts?
I have heard of a group, who would like to reduce the world population to 500,000. I don't know if this is true. When thinking of fossil fuel, I wonder how many humans it will take to replace the 1 dinosaur.
The world food supply and ecology are more pressing concerns. If the jet stream doesn't change soon, the gulf stream might, while we've already polluted the earth so badly, our lifespans are about to be seriously reduced, probably starting with a new man-made plague. Over population is such a huge problem, that all you have to do to solve it, is to raise their standard of living, and hand out free birth control.
. My understanding is that population growth is below replacement leven in the developed western nations and in China. Here in the US we can grow corn merely for eathanol production for bio fuel. Would GMO farming help?
That's true Piney, though through immigration out population is growing. I don't believe China has much immigration though and they may be facing a crisis. We're already GMO farming the vast majority of corn and soybeans. Who knows what's on the horizon?
Cars were invented to make travel easier for us, thus improving our lifestyle. Unfortunately, they also run people over and kill them. GMO farming is similar. It has already produced corn to make syrup which has added to obesity and is highly connected to type 2 diabetes. On the plus side, the addition of the beta-carotene enzyme in rice has prevented tens of thousands of babies in the east from being born blind. In a nutshell GMO farming is only as ethical as the people who use it. People complain about insect resistant crops, while ignoring the thousands of tons of insecticide no longer needed.
Thankyou @Jimbee68 for stating the obvious! It IS the most important problem facing humanity. Period. However, I totally disagree with your pronouncement that all must be raised to middle class level. There are not enough resources on this planet to have everyone become 'middle-class' American style. The obvious answer is birth control. But it seems mankind is doing it's best to sterilize the future generations with their fondness for spreading toxic forever chemicals everywhere in the pursuit of profit.
Well, we needn't worry too much... Although there's lots of evidence that "overpopulation" is yet a myth, let's for the sake of argument assume that it is and predict the future. First let's consider the nature of beings in which on the whole we tend to want to amass and control. Thus we have pillaging, invasion, and murder. What was once accomplished by sword is now scaled up by missile. Everybody isn't going to just become enlightened and cease barbaric practices, they'll just carry it out on a larger scale from a distance. Further consider which demographics/peoples/countries/regions are growing and shrinking and at what rates. Noting that change is the only constant, it does suggest that if the trend continues, the world will change. The reader can stipulate the repercussions. For another argument, let's assume that the smart people recognize overpopulation and the less smart don't. So the smart people cut back their reproducción (to help some future strangers perhaps? hmmm) while the less smart try to figure out how these babies keep popping out. What happens to the overall level of smartness? And what future would that bring? A different argument yet, let's assume that the majority of the people accept the indoctrination and believe in overpopulation, then they are primed to accept edicts from elite leaders to limit or stop reproduction. Now, who gets to decide what their population can do with their bodies? Can they decide who's fit to reproduce and who's not? You see where this is going. But they'd never do anything like that, right? Right? Hmmm
Don''t you know that farmers use GMO crops specifically because they can ADD EVEN MORE pesticides and herbicides because the plants themselves are more resistant to their use? Many plants are bred to enable the use of MORE pesticides and herbicides. Yes, some plants have been genetically modified to resist insects or viruses without so much pesticide. But the use of GMO crops hasn't stopped the use of insecticides from being used more than ever! What's even worse is that GMO crops are controlled by Monsanto, NOT the farmers. They have to abide by strict rules and must use only Monsanto GMO seeds. They cannot produce their own seeds. And farmers end up far, far in debt to Monsanto if they have crop problems, then Monsanto takes over their farms. This has been ongoing for more than a decade now as family farms disappear and corporations take over the farm land. This doesn't even touch the fact that so much farm land is dedicated to feed cattle, or to grow ethanol instead of feeding humans directly. Very sad for humanity to see huge multinational corporations controlling our food supply. You realize of course this means that food goes to the highest bidder, no matter where they are on the planet. Poor people who once grew their own food on their own land for survival must now pay through the nose or starve. GMOs & Toxic Pesticides
I agree with those downsides. The sterile seeds are a real bummer outcome especially for those of us who've been gardening for decades. Thank God for heirloom seeds. But it doesn't have to be all bad. It's not the technology itself but what people choose to do with it.
Yes it's sad that is happening. Sorry for misreading you. I mistakenly thought you were advocating for population reduction.
About 7 billion humans now live on the earth. What difference would it make if there were 10 billion? 50 billion? 100 billion? The difference (IMO) would be total and complete chaos instead of the partial chaos we now have. The condition in Haiti right now would be as childs play, although I don't think the condition there is due to over population, but it's a pretty good example of a chaotic condition.
Already, we've had one mass migration out of Africa, into Europe, while we might see twenty more mass migrations over the next century. With the way things look right now, we need to think about automating a way out of this shit hole we've dug. Everyone keeps saying systems logics are the next generation sciences, that can save our asses, but they're censored everywhere.
Of course population growth is a serious issue. In many parts of the world population is no longer increasing….Much of Europe, Russia, Japan. Actually family planning coupled with a proactive policy does work. China is a great example and in my lifetime the job China has done is amazing. India has not been nearly so successful. It’s now long past time for religions to get on board…all religions and wealth levels of the population. I can remember when the population of earth was 2 billion….scary.
To me, over population is when there aren't enough jobs for the entire population of abled bodied people willing to work. So, over population means more homeless people, because of that.
