Booming world population 'threat to climate change fight'

[Thom Little]

Environmental problems such as global warming can be tackled only if the international community addresses the problem of population growth, a leading scientist warned today.

Professor Chris Rapley, the director of the British Antarctic Survey, said the 76 million annual increase in the world's population threatens "the welfare and quality of life of future generations".

.......

Scientific analysis suggests that the Earth can sustain around 2-3 billion people at a good standard of living over the long term, wrote Prof. Rapley in an article for the BBC News website.

But the current global population of 6.5 billion - expected to rise to 8 billion by the middle of the century - means mankind is imposing an ever greater "footprint" on the planet.



http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article336849.ece

[Trillo]

1. No doubt our "honest and trustworthy" leaders

(that's taken with a healthy dose of sarcasm) will allow themeselves and thier rich friends to procreate, while the poor would be disallowed, in the event procreation is regulated.

In China, there's a little problem with female infanticide.

To what degree is the promotion of the heterosexual family unit responsible for the population explosion?

[Gregorian]

2. But it's only me.

I just want a baby. It's my right. I'm only building one house for me. It's just one car. I have to do what I do in order to pay my bills. Ad infinitem...

It's not just "ME". It's "US". All 6.5 billion.

We can no longer think about me. But we must start thinking about us. It's us who are all building that house. It's us who are all commuting. It's us who are having that baby.

It's called multiplicity. We, not me.

The alternative is ugly. You do not want to go there. Start thinking, world.

[hogwyld]

3. Don't you know

That's why B*shco invented the bird flu. To get rid of the poor people

[Double T]

4. Continued overpopulation is the greatest threat to the future existance...

of this planet. The population needs to respond to this world threat by limiting numbers of offspring to two (2) maximum, throughout a persons life. If we can't control ourselves, I'm certain the governments of the world will be happy to do it for us. The Catholic Church could sure help world population growth with just a few words, " Birth Control is OK".

[Lorien]

5. It's sad but very true

The last research on the matter said that at CURRENT consumption rates, the world's natural resources would be gone in 50 years. Imagine the wars and starvation that will occur BEFORE it's all gone!I know that most here will complain if anyone says that the poor should procreate less; but let's be realistic; third world countries have the highest birth rates. A taxi driver from Bangladesh told me of the mind bending poverty in his hometown, where each family tried to have as many children as possible because they thought of the children as labor that would help to support the family. It was a belief that was deeply ingrained in their culture, and it was destroying them. The taxi driver had two children of his own and determined that THEY would never follow in the footsteps of their forefathers and mothers.He moved to America and plans to send them both to college on his taxi drivers salary, and he has told them that he doesn't want more than two grandchildren out of each of them. "You should focus on the quality of your children's lives, not how many you have" he said. Education, the empowerment of women worldwide, and the availability of birth control are three ways we can start to shift the world's priorities.

[Lisa]

6. increasing consumption isn't helping much either

resource use increases not just because of a growing population, but because technology/demand increase for everything from farmland to energy and minerals. Even places with a relatively low population (many parts of Canada, for example) are seeing ever-increasing pressures on the environment.

If you have a situation where a family of four in Sudan eats $2 worth of groceries per week, and a North American family has a food bill a hundred times that, or more (much of it in the form of animal products) -- and now the wealthier countries are having obesity problems -- evidently overconsumption is an issue which we also have to deal with.

[Moderator]

7. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2024804