Overpopulation

[NikolaiI]

So, related to the question of a possible 6th mass extinction event is the issue of overpopulation. I've been glancing around and saw some interesting numbers. I seem to remember it seemed like only yesterday that 50,000 more people were in the world every day, now it's more like 200,000 more each day.

Anyway, it's definitely related to the extinction crisis - but the reason I'm posting this thread is because I came across a very interesting site - World Population Balance. The link I clicked on was talking about how the current population is already too high -

http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/3_times_sustainable

I went from there to the "Our Vision to Solve Overpopulation" article on there - http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/articles/our-vision-solve-overpopulation

I found this one was very interesting; particularly in that they came to the same conclusions that I had, and written about on various places. Particularly, the use of the word humanely struck me - my thoughts exactly! :-)

"We must inspire humanity to reduce births below a two child average. Only then will population decline – humanely."

I worded it slightly differently, in that we should have one or two children at most - but the same thought.

Alright - thanks for reading.

I did a search to find if there was another thread on overpopulation, but after going through 5 or so pages of threads I couldn't find one, so I went ahead and posted this one.

[Sancho]

I've gotta think Malthus was right and we may all be heading for a Malthusian catastrophe of a global nature.

We're just a ship of fools on our big blue ball hurtling through the universe in the western spiral of the Milky Way on a collision course with own hubris.

Ah, what the hell, easy come - easy go, eh? It's Mother Nature's nature to reformat the disc every so often.

[NikolaiI]

One thing I've thought about for a while, recently, is that there's no reason to be afraid or worry about the future- those things have never helped. . . happiness and hope help a lot, though. So, whenever I talk about this kind of thing, I sort of always want to make clear that I feel that way. . . Another thing, is that people ignore things that make them sad - and naturally enough, too. So - things like this, crises of this kind of nature, for the message to really get out and circulate, it can't ever be coupled with a doom-and-gloom or defeatest attitude. . all of course, in my humble opinion.

In fact, these kinds of things never really affect me, personally; emotionally. . I changed my entire life to have as little impact on the environment as possible, as soon as I had enough money to do so, to not drive a car, not eat meat, and not buy anything but the food necessary for living. . .

And, on a personal note, I can say this has made me very, very happy. . and the more I explore life lived this way, completely peacefully, free of stress and worry, simply to explore whatever can be explored in music, love and poetry, I've only come to realize more that it's the right way. . shamans, medicine men, since forever have lived free and happy - it always seems good to go back to it. .

Definitely I've found that nothing is required to be happy except life, love, some fresh air, peace, and some animals perhaps. . being in nature is tops.

It's long been a consideration of mine - population, since I was a child I've been aware of it, and for many years now I've had the firm conviction that we could all live like kings, if only there were maybe a billion of us total on the planet. This site claims that 2-3 billion is the sustainable number, and we're 3 times above that. I'm not qualified really to affirm or deny that statement; my knowledge of science doesn't quite reach that far.

Michio Kaku is one scientist who has said a lot of good things about the subject.

One of the simple things I believe he and others are saying, is that there is no lack of a solution, there's only lack of awareness of the problem and the way to solve it.

One interesting thought about the catastrophe: “The apocalypse is not something which is coming. The apocalypse has arrived in major portions of the planet and it’s only because we live within a bubble of incredible privilege and social insulation that we still have the luxury of anticipating the apocalypse.”

I've spent a lot of my life considering all these things, and the best thing I can think of is grassroots movements for helping to save the ecosystem, and the biodiversity of life. To simply raise awareness, and create a new culture and a new life that is based on reversing the trends we've set in motion, and preserving the biodiversity and balance of life.

[NikolaiI]

The FAQ page of the WPB site I mentioned is a pretty good run-down of the main points. I'm gradually reading through the articles on it now.

http://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/faq