The world is massively overpopulated

[Fluffy]

The world is massively overpopulated.

Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

 

[Random]

The world is massively overpopulated. Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

Agree. About 2-3 Billion is the most the ecosystem was (dare I say it!) "designed" to handle @ capacity. @ Present, we're at least 4 billion people too many.

 

[lilithu]

I don't know whether I agree or disagree.

I do know that *if* everyone in the world were to live the way that we in the U.K. and especially the U.S. live, then yes, the world is massively overpopulated. There's no way that it can sustain us all.

If otoh, everyone were to live mindful of their impact upon the earth (no suburbs or single commuter cars for starters), AND if the resources of the earth were more equitably distributed, the world is actually not as overpopulated as it seems. We currently have the capacity to produce enough food such that no one need go hungry. We just don't have the will to distribute it properly, without looking at the profit margin.

The earth's carrying capacity for humans depends on how much earth each of us takes up and whether or not we share.

 

[Somkid]

Yep, it sure is and until we learn to get along and share with each other and stop being greedy it will just become more over populated until a great plague wipes most of us out via a pandemic not unlike Bubonic plague, Black plague, etc. Here is a list.

Non-Prophet: Pandemics Through History

 

[Valjean]

There's a lot more to consider than crop capacity and distribution networks. In the US, at least, most crops are grown for animals, not people -- a very inefficient system. And the oceans certainly can't support a large human population with wild fish populations. We've already depleted 90% of the large, food sized fish.

There's air, water and ocean pollution to consider, and carbon footprint. There's the ever-increasing demand for water and the concomitant desertification of many regions.

We're used to thinking 'food' when we think of the impact of population, but we also have to consider topsoil depletion and the extractive industries: mining, petroleum, timber, &c. We have to consider our impact on the habitat of our feathered and furred neighbors.

We're never going to homogenize world consumption of resources. There will always be powerful people and countries arrogating resources desperately needed by poor populations.

As long as our numbers continue to exceed the carrying capacities of our regions, there will be war, strife, famine, disease, and continual environmental degradation.

 

[lilithu]

There's a lot more to consider than crop capacity and distribution networks. In the US, at least, most crops are grown for animals, not people -- a very inefficient system. And the oceans certainly can't support a large human population with wild fish populations. We've already depleted 90% of the large, food sized fish.

There's air, water and ocean pollution to consider, and carbon footprint. There's the ever-increasing demand for water and the concomitant desertification of many regions.

We're used to thinking 'food' when we think of the impact of population, but we also have to consider topsoil depletion and the extractive industries: mining, petroleum, timber, &c. We have to consider our impact on the habitat of our feathered and furred neighbors.

That's why I said, "if everyone were to live mindful of their impact upon the earth." That would include reduced meat consumption amongst other things. I am talking about carbon footprints. And I think we should strive to eliminate the use of fossil fuels altogether.

We're never going to homogenize world consumption of resources. There will always be powerful people and countries arrogating resources desperately needed by poor populations.

As long as our numbers continue to exceed the carrying capacities of our regions, there will be war, strife, famine, disease, and continual environmental degradation.

I'm not calling for world communism. Even if there will always be inequity, we can do a lot better than we are doing now to distribute things more fairly. It's easy for relatively affluent Americans and Western Europeans to say that population growth is the cause of our problems. We tend not to have big families, so if we say that's the problem it means we don't have to change much. BUT our lifestyles (especially the U.S.) consume more resources per capita than anyone else on earth. Why should we get to use 5 times more resources than the average person on this planet? It's not like we're just using our own resources, ya know. We're shipping in resources from other parts of the world for our use. And other countries are shipping out their resources even tho their citizens need them. If global wealth were distributed more equitably then other regions would have higher carrying capacities.

 

[Valjean]

You're quite right, lilithu. One American probably has more environmental impact than dozens of Africans, for example.

 

[lilithu]

And countries that become more economically developed tend to decline in birth rates naturally.

(I am alarmed at how many people there are on this planet, just like you; I just think we should start by focusing on our own problems.)

 

[whereismynotecard]

It's very over-populated.

It looks like......


......


......

It's time......


......


......


to summon......


......


......


MustaKrakish, The Lake Troll!!

 

[Sk8Joyful]

The world is massively overpopulated.

Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

Disagree.

There are more than enough Land-resources available, to feed growing populations.

The problem is governmental/political greed. The people are denied available resources, as a means of "population-control". That is all.

 

[Nessa Nenharma]

Yes, the world is overpopulated.

I heard something shocking that pertains to this just the other night. I was with some friends and they had people they invited that I didn't know. While conversing at the bar one of the men started to talk about the earthquake in China. He said, "Well that should have knocked down the world population some." I didn't know what to say. To think that people would be ok with deaths in other parts of the world in order to thin out the population was astonishing.

He went on to say that, "birth control would do that country some good."

So it made me wonder if people are comfortable with blaming other countries instead of seriously considering the situation.

:bb:

Nessa

 

[Jeremy Mason]

The world is massively overpopulated.

Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

Yes, let us first take care of the people we already have on our precious earth.

 

[texan1]

The world is massively overpopulated.

Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

I would disagree if we all lived like vegetarian monks.........but as you know most of us don't.

 

[Valjean]

Disagree.

There are more than enough Land-resources available, to feed growing populations.

The problem is governmental/political greed. The people are denied available resources, as a means of "population-control". That is all.

I think humans are already overusing "available resources". Everyplace people have access to tends to degrade.
The only effective population control I'm currently aware of is war, famine and disease -- usually caused, directly or indirectly, by breeding beyond the carrying capacity of their region.

 

[Magic Man]

I would say that we are overpopulated, but not necessarily "massively". I think we are quickly heading in the direction of being massively overpopulated, but right now we are just over the limit. I think in many ways our intelligence (although that term is sometimes questionable) has become detrimental to us. We have gotten too good at avoiding nature's problems for our own good.

 

[BucephalusBB]

The world is massively overpopulated.

Do you agree or disagree with that statement?

Overpopulated for wat? Very hard to choose as we build and break at the same time. We have the capabillity to recreate that wich we have broken, but in a different way.

But we are a plague by our own definition..

 

[lilithu]

The only effective population control I'm currently aware of is war, famine and disease -- usually caused, directly or indirectly, by breeding beyond the carrying capacity of their region.

Education and economic development are very effective means of birth control, and a lot more humane than war, famine and disease.

 

[lilithu]

Yes, the world is overpopulated.

I heard something shocking that pertains to this just the other night. I was with some friends and they had people they invited that I didn't know. While conversing at the bar one of the men started to talk about the earthquake in China. He said, "Well that should have knocked down the world population some." I didn't know what to say. To think that people would be ok with deaths in other parts of the world in order to thin out the population was astonishing.

He went on to say that, "birth control would do that country some good."

Hi Nessa, namaste.

Your friend's friend is a racist. And an ignorant one at that. (Tho that's usually redundant.) China has had a "one child per family" policy in place for decades. This policy has been criticized by the West as a violation of human rights. Apparently, the critics would rather see massive overpopulation and even greater death tolls.

So it made me wonder if people are comfortable with blaming other countries instead of seriously considering the situation.

Exactly.

 

[lilithu]

The problem is governmental/political greed. The people are denied available resources, as a means of "population-control". That is all.

Yes, and those who control the resources are the U.S. and Western European countries, and those who are being denied the resources are in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. It's a continuation of colonial oppression.

 

[OutOfTime]

what the persons above me said.

you've been brainwashed into thinking that it's overpopulated. there isn't a food shortage, if there was, you'd know it from your fridge and you wouldn't need a cnn reporter to tell you. it's all just bs and part of the population control agenda to kill ppl. there are these things called the georgia guidestones or something (sorta like our American stonehenge), it says sustain earth's population within 500 million. that's exactly what they'll do, kill people off with poverty and depressions and diseases.