• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Why Is No One Speaking About Overpopulation?

Ellen Brown

Well-Known Member
With the way we do things, we are rapidly making the Earth unlivable. I hear people running around and wringing their hands about Plastics, Carbon Footprints, Aquifer depletion, and so many things. Yet, most people do not change their ways. I fear, even living more frugally will not stop us running out of resources eventually. A couple of scientists have said we have perhaps 100 years to get off the planet.

Yet, it seems that no one talks of overpopulation. It seems that the poorest countries are the ones with the highest birth rates, while countries like America and others do not have enough new births to sustain their population. Honestly, I think perhaps that Trump's wall is actually about Birth Rates?

When President Clinton was in Office, he attended a conference in Rio De Janeiro, where it was decided that the practical limit on the population was around 2.3 Billion. We've far exceeded that now.

Even those who believe in NO GOD must realize that humanity is approaching an extinction level event?
 

danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I think people are talking about it, and responsible people are doing something about it.

I don’t think there is any practical way of dealing with the irresponsible people though.
 

TheresOnlyNow

The Mind Is Everything. U R What U Think
Years ago there was a spoof site, or maybe they were serious? Called, The Church of Euthanasia. I don't know if it is still up. But they addressed this matter to the extreme.
"Save the world kill yourself"

People are dealing with over population. That is true. And yet, birth control was strongly opposed by the far right Christian front in the early 20th century until it became legal.
And now, though it is reprehensible, abortion is the target of that same front.

Whereas, starvation is a horrific population control mechanism in poor countries. Little treasures dying in huge numbers ever minute.
While Catholic missionary groups prosletyze in those regions and inform the tribal people that the new God is against birth control and abortion, and is strongly pro-family .
Don't worry if you can't feed 'em, because when they're born they're sprinkled and that means when they starve to death they'll go straight to Heaven.
Riiight.

Natural disasters also curb the population. And of course violent crime and war.
I wouldn't worry about overpopulation. I think the concern should be feeding and housing and caring for the living. That's pro-life.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
With the way we do things, we are rapidly making the Earth unlivable. I hear people running around and wringing their hands about Plastics, Carbon Footprints, Aquifer depletion, and so many things. Yet, most people do not change their ways. I fear, even living more frugally will not stop us running out of resources eventually. A couple of scientists have said we have perhaps 100 years to get off the planet.

Yet, it seems that no one talks of overpopulation. It seems that the poorest countries are the ones with the highest birth rates, while countries like America and others do not have enough new births to sustain their population. Honestly, I think perhaps that Trump's wall is actually about Birth Rates?

When President Clinton was in Office, he attended a conference in Rio De Janeiro, where it was decided that the practical limit on the population was around 2.3 Billion. We've far exceeded that now.

Even those who believe in NO GOD must realize that humanity is approaching an extinction level event?

I suppose because there isn't much we can do about it since since the population explosion is coming from Africa. The folks in Africa don't seem interested in dealing with it. It not like we can go invade their country and force them to stop making babies.

I don't think governments can do much about it anyway except maybe have more wars.

Whichever way I assume the problem will take care of itself. Once we reach the limit we reach the limits. Excess people will die off until it balances out.
 
With the way we do things, we are rapidly making the Earth unlivable. I hear people running around and wringing their hands about Plastics, Carbon Footprints, Aquifer depletion, and so many things. Yet, most people do not change their ways. I fear, even living more frugally will not stop us running out of resources eventually. A couple of scientists have said we have perhaps 100 years to get off the planet.

Yet, it seems that no one talks of overpopulation. It seems that the poorest countries are the ones with the highest birth rates, while countries like America and others do not have enough new births to sustain their population. Honestly, I think perhaps that Trump's wall is actually about Birth Rates?

When President Clinton was in Office, he attended a conference in Rio De Janeiro, where it was decided that the practical limit on the population was around 2.3 Billion. We've far exceeded that now.

Even those who believe in NO GOD must realize that humanity is approaching an extinction level event?

If resources run out due to too many people, then naturally alot of people will die. It will just happen and there will be nothing anyone will be able to do about it.

Either that or folks stop having babies.
 

Erebus

Well-Known Member
People tend not to talk about it much because it's a grim topic. While plenty of people will accept that overpopulation is an issue, the potential damage it could cause and the possible solutions make them uncomfortable.

Society plays a big role in souring people towards worries about overpopulation too. There's tremendous cultural pressure to start a family. I'm a man and the usual response to me saying I don't want children is, "well you will do someday." The desirability of children is treated as an inevitability. Women have even more pressure on them, a perfect example of this is the difficulty one woman had convincing doctors she wanted to be sterilised*. Not wanting children is seen as a flaw and anti-natalism is seen as utterly monstrous.

Don't get me wrong, while I do have anti-natalist leanings (though not purely for environmental reasons) I wouldn't tell new parents that they'd made a mistake. I also wouldn't insist a pregnant woman should have an abortion. Personal choice is something I place a high value on and my ideals aren't shared by everybody.

It's at this point that the topic gets into some pretty dark territory. If you accept overpopulation as a problem, what can actually be done about it? Forced sterilisation? Only allowing certain classes of people to breed? It seems that any workable solution to overpopulation invariably has some form of dystopian quality to it.


* I fought a four-year battle with the NHS to be sterilised at 30 - and won
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
I suppose because there isn't much we can do about it since since the population explosion is coming from Africa. The folks in Africa don't seem interested in dealing with it. It not like we can go invade their country and force them to stop making babies.

I don't think governments can do much about it anyway except maybe have more wars.

Whichever way I assume the problem will take care of itself. Once we reach the limit we reach the limits. Excess people will die off until it balances out.
Africa is an extremely diverse continent made up of 54 countries and thousands of ethnic groups. Westerners need to stop talking about it as if it's all one country and a third world hellhole across the board. It has its problems (so do we) but let's not forget that the cushy lifestyle that Westerners enjoy is built on the exploitation of less developed nations and we continue to meddle with them, propping up extremist movements that will give us what we want while screwing the people over. Of course there's people there working on those issues. They're not ****ing stupid.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
With the way we do things, we are rapidly making the Earth unlivable. I hear people running around and wringing their hands about Plastics, Carbon Footprints, Aquifer depletion, and so many things. Yet, most people do not change their ways. I fear, even living more frugally will not stop us running out of resources eventually. A couple of scientists have said we have perhaps 100 years to get off the planet.

Yet, it seems that no one talks of overpopulation. It seems that the poorest countries are the ones with the highest birth rates, while countries like America and others do not have enough new births to sustain their population. Honestly, I think perhaps that Trump's wall is actually about Birth Rates?

When President Clinton was in Office, he attended a conference in Rio De Janeiro, where it was decided that the practical limit on the population was around 2.3 Billion. We've far exceeded that now.

Even those who believe in NO GOD must realize that humanity is approaching an extinction level event?
I've been blathering on & on about it.
It's the 700 pound gorilla people avoid when discussing global warming.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
The problem isn't really overpopulation but the materialistic Western lifestyle wrecking the planet by using up so many resources and producing so much waste and pollution. That's the problem people don't want to talk about. Instead they want to whine about black and brown people who are dirt poor having babies, even though they aren't the ones wrecking the environment.
 
Last edited:

Curious George

Veteran Member
With the way we do things, we are rapidly making the Earth unlivable. I hear people running around and wringing their hands about Plastics, Carbon Footprints, Aquifer depletion, and so many things. Yet, most people do not change their ways. I fear, even living more frugally will not stop us running out of resources eventually. A couple of scientists have said we have perhaps 100 years to get off the planet.

Yet, it seems that no one talks of overpopulation. It seems that the poorest countries are the ones with the highest birth rates, while countries like America and others do not have enough new births to sustain their population. Honestly, I think perhaps that Trump's wall is actually about Birth Rates?

When President Clinton was in Office, he attended a conference in Rio De Janeiro, where it was decided that the practical limit on the population was around 2.3 Billion. We've far exceeded that now.

Even those who believe in NO GOD must realize that humanity is approaching an extinction level event?
I think "overpopulation" is another scare tactic of which people speak often.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
The problem isn't really overpopulation but the materialistic Western lifestyle wrecking the planet by using up so many resources and producing so much waste and pollution. That's the problem people don't want to talk about. Instead they want to whine about poor black and brown people who are dirt poor having babies.
I'd rather have a lavish western lifestyle with a lower global population
than live a meager existence on a planet with too many humans
crowding out the natural environment.
Quality of life isn't enhanced by having an ever increasing population.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
I'd rather have a lavish western lifestyle with a lower global population
than live a meager existence on a planet with too many humans
crowding out the natural environment.
Quality of life isn't enhanced by having an ever increasing population.
It's that lavish Western lifestyle that is wrecking the planet in the first place, is my point. Some poor people living in a shack or tent isn't crowding out the natural environment, but clearing out forests to build houses, apartments, condos, mansions, resorts, single use plantations to like palm oil (which are destroying the Sumatran and Bornean rainforests), sure does. We're just greedy and selfish. Whatever. The planet will survive and we'll die off. Too bad we'll be taking so many species with us.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
It's that lavish Western lifestyle that is wrecking the planet in the first place, is my point. Some poor people living in a shack or tent isn't crowding out the natural environment, but clearing out forests to build houses, apartments, condos, mansions, resorts, single use plantations to like palm oil (which are destroying the Sumatran and Bornean rainforests), sure does. We're just greedy and selfish. Whatever. The planet will survive and we'll die off. Too bad we'll be taking so many species with us.
Environmental degradation is still related to population
level. I see no advantage to having so many people.
Solve the problem by cutting population, not lifestyle.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
Environmental degradation is still related to population
level. I see no advantage to having so many people.
Solve the problem by cutting population, not lifestyle.
Our lifestyle is what is causing the damage. Trump's lifestyle is hurting then planet more than a poor family living in India or wherever. I support birth control, but the facts are clear. You just don't want to give it up. But it doesn't matter what you want since it's unsustainable and it will fall apart eventually. The West is already starting to decline. We didn't evolve as a species to live these cushy lifestyles, anyway. It will probably be for the best when the **** hits the fan. Maybe we'll learn a lesson.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Our lifestyle is what is causing the damage. Trump's lifestyle is hurting then planet more than a poor family living in India or wherever. I support birth control, but the facts are clear. You just don't want to give it up. But it doesn't matter what you want since it's unsustainable and it will fall apart eventually. The West is already starting to decline. We didn't evolve as a species to live these cushy lifestyles, anyway. It will probably be for the best when the **** hits the fan. Maybe we'll learn a lesson.
You won't be able to prevent all these 3rd world countries from adopting
as lavish a lifestyle as they can afford. We've watched China do it.
A continually increasing population isn't sustainable either.

And yes, I don't want to give up a western lifestyle just so we can justify
an increasingly populated planet.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Here for the ride
Premium Member
You won't be able to prevent all these 3rd world countries from adopting
as lavish a lifestyle as they can afford. We've watched China do it.
A continually increasing population isn't sustainable either.

And yes, I don't want to give up a western lifestyle just so we can justify
an increasingly populated planet.
I said I support birth control. Drops in the birthrate are a natural consequence of increasing access of girls and women to education and then to the workplace. However, I'm sick of Westerners blaming poor people in developing countries for the problems we caused. Either way, we're going to have to make changes. Lack of resources and climate change will force us to. Doesn't matter what any of us want. The party will end eventually.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
I said I support birth control. Drops in the birthrate are a natural consequence of increasing access of girls and women to education and then to the workplace. However, I'm sick of Westerners blaming poor people in developing countries for the problems we caused. Either way, we're going to have to make changes. Lack of resources and climate change will force us to. Doesn't matter what any of us want. The party will end eventually.
I plan to party as long as possible.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
Birth rates have gone down considerably, even in the so-called "third world". Current projections are that we'll top out around 10-11 billion. Too many to be sure, but not continued growth either. At the same time, extreme poverty has decreased around the world, and yes, everyone, everywhere wants to move up the economic ladder, which means that as poverty is reduced, we will be gobbling up more limited resources and polluting more and so on.

It strikes me that we need to shoft how we spend our R&D dollars and get really, really serious about sustainability across the board. From energy to farming practices, to water use practices and so on.
 
Top