Is the world overpopulated, or are we just underdeveloped?

So, is the world overpopulated or are we just underdeveloped? I’ve had this debate with a good friend of mine several times and he thinks that we have the technology to sub stain the current 6.8 billion. We have the technology to care food, housing and security, but it’s farley obvious that it’s not the world’s priority.

Or are do we just have too many people? Every major city I’ve been to looks like a cluster fuck, countries around the world are starting to show water shortages such as India, and China. America could start to see water shortages in as early as 30 years.

India water shortages.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/200...ing-across-the-globe-but-especially-india.php
China.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031503564.html

Research shows that our population will hit 7 billion this year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/06/world-population-7-billion_n_805481.html
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-12/...-sheet-population-reference-bureau?_s=PM:TECH

Whats your take? Speak up!

 

Yes, the world is overpopulated, and also paradoxially suffering from a too-low birth rate in many places. My answer to this is that the world population needs to go down, but it's going to come at some pretty drastic expenses in the countries where we will see a large aging population supported my a much smaller younger population. They may not be able to retire, and perhaps even be denied the health care they need simply because society cannot afford to support them. A dreary quality of life (and in the worst case scenario, a shorter one despite rising life expectancies) for the seniors of the future. But that's just one possible outcome; I'm no expert on this.

Still, in absolute terms, the world is definitely overpopulated. Even if technology would help us support more people (and that's really our only hope now) I don't see why we have a need for so many people...how it could possibly be a good thing for our planet. And it will pay the price for that too. Luckily my country, Canada, has a vast supply of potable water, though I am uneasy about what other nations may do if they are faced with drastic water shortages and look thirstily in our direction. At best, and on the bright side, it'll help our economy (though the world economy will likely be so bad it'll likely drag us down anyway).

Anyway, that's my doom-and-gloom rambling. Hopefully worst doesn't come to worst...

 

We are over populated but we could just scatter people out and teach everyone to grow gardens instead of relying on the government to feed us. There is still ALOT of land on this earth that is unpopulated by humans.

 

Yeah but not all of it is inhabitable (or is, but is just someplace where pretty much no one would want to live, like most of my country XD). Not all the land is arable...not all of it is in an economically viable area.

 

Humans don't need to inhabit every piece of land on this earth. Its nice to have vast forests, deserts and swamp lands where only animals can thrive. Id say we have taken up enough space as is.

 

Definitely overpopulated, Mumbai, India, over 20 million..

Were looking at China who has implemented population control into law.

I believe there certainly is technology to effectively care for everyone, but unfortunately those nations who have population problems do not have the resources/money to make it happen. And, especially in India, they probably have the technology, but there is such a DIVIDE between the rich and the poor, that it is not a priority..

 

a bit of both - but what makes it worse is that the areas that are both overpopulated and undeveloped just so happen to be same areas.

i.e africa

 

I say Neither but what Is and Isn't Doesn't matter because i'm Ok,,,, ie -- everything is perfect

 

we have an entire continent-Antarctica- that isn't being used! Let's gear up the snow suits and move south!

 

tsunami.. :burp:

 

If I say it's overpopulated, in a sense it makes everyone sound like a statistic, and like there's too many people that shouldn't have existed in the first place, which isn't right. There are most definitely population issues, but everyone does have a purpose.

The resources to change things are definitely out there, but money, greed and "power" get in the way-the whole complex political world. For one, money is being wasted on the drug war and people are thrown into prisons.

I know cannabis is brought up a lot, but just imagine how much money, for example, the government could make from cannabis and use it for good. And imagine them not misusing our taxes. And the world bonding together to help people in need as a priority while figuring the costs out later.

I guess this is the point where someone would bring up Lennon's "I may be a dreamer" quote. I really could go on with this, actually, but I'll keep the post as it is. Just some thoughts in my mind.

 

We are witnessing a very common phenomena that ALL living creatures, plant and animal, do in the absence of any major natural predator of their species, overpopulate and over-utilize the environment and available resources until it get's to a point that the environment can no longer support the population of the species in question.
That is why there are hunting seasons, why there are restrictions on transporting plants to new environs, etc. Those are all strategies humans have adopted to keep plant or animal populations in check. Usually as a result of human interference in the natural pecking and predation order.

Simply put humans are the pinnacle of the food chain on this planet and as such suffer no natural predation. With no natural predators keeping the human, or any population, in check, overpopulation and overuse of available resources occurs.

We are rapidly reaching that "critical tipping point" on this planet in regards to how much life and specifically human life it can accommodate before things turn really bad.

Sure there are still uninhabited areas of the planet, but they are uninhabited because they are not conducive to supporting a human population without monumental expenditures of time, energy, and finances.

I honestly feel that we are most likely going to see some type of major pandemic that will put the population back in check. Either that or as often has happened in nature many times, a slow insidious demise of the majority of the population until the planetary environs are restored to a point of being able to support human populations once again.

It ain't rocket science people. We live in a finite, essentially closed system that can only support a finite amount of life. The more burden we put on that closed system, the closer we are to it no longer being able to shoulder that burden.

 

This is a shitty poll options,,, Is my major input,/opinion on this thread in general,,,, I want to share my input into the poll results,,, but yet,, I'm sure of myself,, and I do not think the world is overpopulated,, nor do I think it's undeveloped

 

A moral way to think it: the world is over-populated; meaning has too many people already to live the dreams of what nature may offer. And these people drive cars too often, and won't carpool enough.

 

Overpopulated. Here's in interesting graph.

 

But am I really Moral; not that I would not want anyone to be refused into our noisy, congested, polluted world of hard working civilians. :biker:

 

That's just a picture,,, I accept that All History is just a story, not real, just in my mind

 

Underdeveloped. Plus I certainly don't want the government telling me not to have children because children in Africa are starving.

The West's attitude concerning birth control in the Third World seems silly - we supply them with an overabundance of condoms (which they don't use) to the extent they have cabinets in their medical facilities overflowing with prophylactics and cabinets where other goods should be completely empty.

The moral and ethical solution is for the G8 to seriously work toward getting available technology to impoverished nations. An extraordinarily difficult task, but no less difficult than telling everyone on the planet to only have XX amount of offspring.

 

Notice the coincidence around the invention of the Car. Of course, this is no joke. This the Right's point of view for the internal combustion engine. (that it isn't the industrial revolution which caused anything to regard important for population growth). It is commercialism itself.:afro:


Hey, my old professor:

http://press.umsystem.edu/spring2009/langan.calcagno.htm


Co-incidence? I love this song for Unassuming Progress.


https://www.youtube.com/v/mDehMFU_wXk?version=3

 

you went to university of missourri aye? my siters is going there for grad school

good song