Do atheists believe in magnetism?

[Truth in love]

Except we don't know why the birth rate is declining.
Cities developed pretty much on the same timeline as rural populations and the development of this country. Not sure that says anything about how we might implement population management one way or the other or get people to plant gardens.
It is not clear that the adoption of technology is a predictive model of our ability to adopt practices like backyard farming.

We know a lot about the health effects of nicotine and have for decades, yet more than 10% of the US populations smokes and it is higher in many other countries even among a general global decline.

Even when there is a clear benefit for a behavior, it is difficult to get people to change.
I have doubts and not just because of the ability for social change, but practical issues. I some parts of this country, backyard gardens would be input intensive and as such, counterproductive. Then there is the skill at production, pest issues, pesticide issues and safety, harvest, storage, shipping, etc. How this would effect supply and demand on a larger scale is unknown as well.

Personally, I think backyard gardening is a good idea and would have some impact, but how much, how widely and how sustainably, I don't know. Is it the answer if our global population exceeds carrying capacity? I have my doubts.

It won’t be like rolling out a new model of car, but it’s doable.
Birth rate decline has been linked to a few major issues.

1. more wealth. People tend to have fewer kids when they have more money.
2. Female education. Educated women have few kids (on average).
3. Birth control tech. We had very little up to the last 60-70 years.
4. Cultural shifts. The social norms impact people. The more we have large families on tv vs small etc shapes how people think. So groups like Catholics are more resistant to that kind of influence.


Anyhow we went from no masks to psycho masking in a few months for covid. Sorting out how to garden a bit in 5-10 years would be very doable for most people.

 

[SkepticThinker]

I have no doubt confirmation bias has happened, but when we see consistent patterns week after week year after year such an explanation does not make sense.

Sure it does. Humans are pattern-seeking creatures.

 

[PearlSeeker]

For example, near death experiences vary by society.

Actually they are very similar but the interpretation varies.

Religion, Culture and Near Death Experiences