The growth of the human population is bad

[toymachines]

The growth of the human population is bad
William Ladd, SDNN

Growth is bad. You rarely hear that statement in any context in America these days. But it is true. Americans have been brainwashed into believing that all growth, unless it pertains to cancer, is unquestionably a good thing. But let’s think about that. Would we want the world population to grow until people were standing shoulder to shoulder on all of the Earth’s land? No, right? OK, that means we recognize that population growth must stop at some point, and not just slow down, either. So we’re not debating whether population growth has to come to a complete halt, we’re only talking about when.

Note that though the well meaning Al Gore thinks that global warming is the big thing to worry about, he has completely neglected the root cause. It doesn’t even matter if humans are responsible for global warming. They so clearly are the cause of so much other trouble, and it’s because there are too many people. All the world leaders are concerned about how to feed, clothe, and supply water and energy to the growing multitudes. Sophisticated agricultural, water desalination, and purification, and energy production methods are being researched and developed. But all this effort will prove futile if world population continues to grow. We live on a finite planet. Growth will simply overwhelm the attempted remedies.

I had lunch recently with MIT’s dean of its school of science, and he agreed with this view. He also agreed that we actually don’t know what the long term consequences of the current huge world population would be if we froze population at its current level.

Rather than throwing all our efforts at trying to handle ever-increasing numbers of people, we should be directing our efforts at preventing the increase. So, the only really sensible thing to do is to begin the admittedly politically difficult task of reducing the world’s population by motivating people to have fewer children than what is required to maintain the current population. One way to do this would be via the tax system. There should be a financial disincentive to have children written into the tax code of all countries... Read more

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-07-16/news/politics-city-county-government/william-ladd-the-growth-of-the-human-population-is-bad#ixzz0LXP0OoSY

[BlooInBloo]

1. (shrug) Tragedy of the commons.

[elocs]

2. Humans are a virus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn6WZh17BF4

[lexanman]

21. We are very much like a virus

we consume whatever is around us, destroy the environment in the process, and repopulate. That is the definition of a virus.

[alterfurz]

27. "The earth is an organism...

...and that organism has a skin, and that skin has diseases. One of those diseases is man." -- Nietzsche

[Bill McBlueState]

3. more from the article

Another important task is to eliminate illegal immigration, and the “anchor baby”, whereby if an illegal entrant to the U.S. has a baby on U.S. soil, it is automatically a U.S. citizen, and can facilitate the entry of multiple otherwise illegal immigrants. This absurd rule is only duplicated in one other country, a small African nation. No other country would even consider that kind of nonsense.

Ooh, those sneaky anchor babies!

[Birthmark]

4. Capitalism is virtually unsustainable without population increase.

Throw that on top of the religious reasons that exist for expanding population and we have a recipe for continual population growth.

Of course, that's probably (and almost certainly) unsustainable as well.

The 21st century should be, um, interesting to say the least.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Which is curious, as capitalism got its start with a huge population DEcrease.

It was the black death, killing tens of millions of people, between 1/4 and 3/4 the population in many areas, that killed feudalism and created the growth of mercantilism - a shortage of labor made it possible for those laborers who survived to demand high compensation for their work, which created more wealth at lower levels in society, creating the middle-class, and spurring trade. This quickly developed into the capitalism that we know today.

Though I would argue that what we have today is actually a resurgent feudalism, the development of a small, extremely wealthy upper class, and a broad, poorly compensated lower class, with not much in between. Corporatism is the new nationalism, and what we have now is the death of capitalism.

Maybe a new population purge is in order.

[Birthmark]

6. I'm against purges. There's simply no need.

Simply getting the rate of reproduction under control will do the job over time. In fact, it will do several important jobs.

It will, all things being equal:

- cut CO2 emissions
- drive up wages, as you point out in your post
- reduce the ecological strain on the planet as a whole, exclusive of anthropogenic global warming (AGW)
- reduce the strain on existing infrastructure and reduce the need for more infrastructure
- probably make government more responsive to the people
- reduce the real cost of housing and most products
- and probably a lot that I can't think of. :)

However, it will tend to shrink the overall economy and reduce corporate profits. Our current capitalism cannot absorb that without dire consequences. So, we'll probably continue on our semi-suicidal road...until AGW or some other environmental/economic/health catastrophe does the "purging" for us.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. I'm not sure we have a choice about it.

The good citizens of Genoa certainly didn't choose to have 90% of them die off in six months.

If we don't take measures to control our population, Gaia will do it for us.

[cabluedem]

26. Who says this recession isnt a population control purge? No jobs, no food and we die. n/t

[mimitabby]

8. except for his anti immigrant opinions, i think he's right

there are too many people.
and most people want to have kids of their own..
we can help by making birth control accessible and affordable all over the world. (none of this abstinence crap)
voluntary sterilization should be free, and in some areas, it would be good to give people a premium for doing it.
Hauling food into impoverished areas and NOT providing birth control is a horrible idea. It boosts fertility, and then when we've gone home
they'll have more babies who will starve to death.
There are too many people.
there are too many people.

[Gregorian]

9. A growth rate of 2% means doubling of population in 35 years!

The rule of 72 is formulated from the natural logarithm. A rough estimate is to divide the annual growth rate by 72 to yield the doubling time.

It is highly deceptive to see a small growth rate. People do not realize how deadly a situation we're in. We're already fighting for resources, and to think of adding more aggravation to a situation that is already an emergency is just stupid.

It's a two part equation. We are big in numbers, but we also living a modern lifestyle. It wouldn't be nearly as bad if we were all living like native Americans did. But then we'd have never reached this artificially high population.

[Raster]

10. This is why abortion and birth control should be available freely...

...and every childless couple--including gays--should be given tax breaks, instead of going to breeders that continue to increase the human strain on the planet by their incessant procreation.

[mimitabby]

12. yes

you are correct, people should be paid a premium to not reproduce. Not especially gays, including gays.

[Raster]

13. I agree. I will change the wording of my post.

Thanks.

[timeforpeace]

11. The irony (and fatal flaw) being that only developed countries undertake the called-for population

declines. And it's not the developed countries that cause the over-population. Duh.

[Raster]

14. At this point in time, every country is contributing to the general over population of the planet.

Although, I do see your point.

[Lasher]

15. Too many people. This is the root cause for many of our problems.

If the US stopped all immigration, legal and illegal, we could achieve zero population growth.

Here is an article about growth by Steve Kangas:

Many people believe that economic growth is healthy. Indeed, high growth would solve many problems, like poverty, the trade deficit, the debt, etc. But it is impossible for economic growth to continue in a world of limited resources. The population explosion -- which has been created by improved science and productive technology -- is already running into declining resources in grain, seafood, meat, and fresh water. The result will be mass starvation and pitched competition for survival. The alternative is a sustained economy, which holds both the population and production levels constant.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-growth.htm

[GeorgeGist]

16. It's important to rain on your parade a bit.

The foremost concern of world leaders is to financially profit from the growing multitudes.

[Reform]

17. There was another man who thought this way

His name was Hitler.

So why not sterilize Mass populations, allow for a 1 year grace period after your child is born to abort.
How bout we just slaughter mass populations, nukes are a humane way right?
How bout we spread aides or some other horrible infliction to the most over populated societies in the world.
Lets just adopt the 1 child China policy, it will bring in a lot of money selling American orphans all around the world, plus it would give us organs to harvest, just like China.

Prince Philip:
"In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation," Philip told Deutsche Press Agentur in August 1988.

The work is already being well done all over the world, for example
Average sperm counts among healthy American men dropped by 1.5 percent each year between 1938 and 1990, a decline more rapid than previous studies have suggested, they found. The decline among European men was about twice as fast, or 3.1.
So don't sweat it your eugenics friends are hard at work.:P

[pipi_k]

20. I don't believe this is about eugenics

It's about too many people in general

There are way too many of ALL of us on this earth, although, granted, there are some cultures/populations that need more birth control education, but again, it's not about eugenics or trying to build a "Master Race". In those cases, it's about preventing a growth in population that can't be supported by existing resources, and there's no outside help in sight. In other words, stopping the starvation and suffering by being responsible.

[paulsby]

18. rubbish editorial

any editorial that starts out with claiming that if you disagree with the thesis you are "brainwashed" instantly loses credibility. that's not rational argumentation.

[BBG]

22. Read again, slowly and for comprehension

The brainwashing referred to was what is causing so many of us to act as if growth was the only course to follow. Not that you must agree with the thesis or be brainwashed yourself.

And we are fed a constant mantra-barrage that growth is good and the only way to go. Growth proves (ego satisfaction) our course to be most viable and capable of sustaining growth when the reality is nothing can sustain growth forever. There is a finite limit to how far we can grow before we burst the reality.

[paulsby]

23. that's simply wrong

the idea that we are fed a constant barrage of "growth is good and the only way to go " is complete rubbish. any # of movies, tv shows, documentaries, news stories, etc. promote the opposite side of the coin frequently. and yes, the brainwashing comment was bogus as well.

[KakistocracyHater]

19. it's why ngos should include condoms & bc pills

in their hand-outs of seeds, food, fruit trees, etc. Gently reduce the population via bc rather than famine, war, & disease.

[bemildred]

24. Even the most primitive of hunter-gatherer tribes knows you have to limit

your population to the carrying capacity of the place you live. And some of them managed to live and thrive that way for hundreds of thousands of years. No "civilization" has managed even a few percent of that. They all failed eventually, desertifying their living space in the process. It seems pretty clear we are in the process of going the same route on a global scale. So who is really ignorant and primitive here?

[Seldona]

25. Growth is not bad, it is a part of the natural order of things.

Mother Nature has a way of keeping these things in check.

[Kablooie]

28. We really don't have to worry about it. Over population will take care of itself.

Nature will assure that when the population becomes truly too big it will be decreased.

Disease, famine, and war over resources will automatically bring the world's population back to reasonable levels.

All we have to do is sit back, multiply and wait.

Easy!

[OneBlueSky]

29. Paul Ehrlich wrote "The Population Bomb" in 1970 . . .

and predicted mass starvation and other drastic impacts by 1995 if population was not curbed . . . while he may have gotten his timing wrong, his premise is still valid and alarming . . . he may have been ahead of his time (as insightful thinkers often are), but what he had to say is no less meaningful today than it was 40 years ago -- in fact, it's far more meaningful in 2009 . . .