Overpopulation and the church

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Overpopulation is the biggest problem facing the world today. The climate is measurably warming up as a result of pollution; many species of animals are becoming extinct, fossil fuel can’t last forever. Water is going to become scarce in the future as the population continues to stress the environment. It’s obvious that the next one or two hundred years is going to be a catastrophic time in human history. What is the Catholic Church’s position on overpopulation and how to best deal with the problem?
 
Roger12345 said:
Overpopulation is the biggest problem facing the world today. The climate is measurably warming up as a result of pollution; many species of animals are becoming extinct, fossil fuel can’t last forever. Water is going to become scarce in the future as the population continues to stress the environment. It’s obvious that the next one or two hundred years is going to be a catastrophic time in human history. What is the Catholic Church’s position on overpopulation and how to best deal with the problem?
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The world is not overpopulated and never will be.

Do not confuse the inequitable distribution of food and other resources through mismanagement, greed and corruption resulting in so many needy in the world as meaning the world is overpopulated. It is NOT.
 
thistle said:
The world is not overpopulated and never will be.

Do not confuse the inequitable distribution of food and other resources through mismanagement, greed and corruption resulting in so many needy in the world as meaning the world is overpopulated. It is NOT.
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Correct…The entire worlds population can live in Texas and be awarded the same square footage per person as someone who lives in NYC.
 
The world is not overpopulated and never will be.

:eek: You can’t be serious. The environmental decay is measurable. We’re going to be in a Malthusian nightmare in the next hundred years. If you don’t live on a farm and you’re not capable of self-sufficiency you’re probably going to die. I’m glad I don’t have any kids and I’m well into middle age.
 
Overpopulation is **so **1900s!!!

The population explosion has long since fizzled. By 2050, world P will gong down.

In many of the countries of the world, the issue is not too many bodies but too many “old” bodies and not enough young workers to sustain the society.

In Japan, grade schools are being turned into nursing homes, and entire villages are now extinct.

In Russia, the P has been going down for some years.

The USA has a stable population in part because of robust immigration. When that ends, either because of anti-immigrant hysteria or simply because our economy is no better than the countries the immigrants once left, we will see firsthand what happens economically with a falling population.

The Church is not going to change its pro-family stance; particularly when there is finally no reason to.

ICXC NIKA
 
Please try and remain calm, don’t panic, everything will be alright. Say your prayers, trust in God, all things are in his hands.
 
I’m not suggesting the church’s pro family stance is wrong, I agree with it myself. Only that the number of people is overstressing the environment.
 
Roger12345 said:
The world is not overpopulated and never will be.

:eek: You can’t be serious. The environmental decay is measurable. We’re going to be in a Malthusian nightmare in the next hundred years. If you don’t live on a farm and you’re not capable of self-sufficiency you’re probably going to die. I’m glad I don’t have any kids and I’m well into middle age.
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What makes you think that farming is the answer?

Rural areas are the first to have shortages if there are problems.

ICXC NIKA
 
Roger12345 said:
The world is not overpopulated and never will be.

:eek: You can’t be serious. The environmental decay is measurable. We’re going to be in a Malthusian nightmare in the next hundred years. If you don’t live on a farm and you’re not capable of self-sufficiency you’re probably going to die. I’m glad I don’t have any kids and I’m well into middle age.
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The world’s population will peak around 2055 and decline thereafter.
 
Most people in the modern industrial world, including myself, are office serfs. If the system were to collapse, or even be disrupted for 6 months we’ll be the first to go. People who are capable of self-sufficiency will be in a better position. You’re right the rural areas will be the first to be impacted by shortages, but I’m talking about achieving the ability to be self-sufficient, at least for a while. I seriously doubt that 5 % of the U.S. population is in the position to achieve anything close to this. The rest of us are going to be outsourced to that big office in the sky. (Maybe that’s purgatory)
 
Not being a climatologist, I can’t really speak on the global warming issue (and I also don’t want to join the company of those who use figures and statistics they barely understand to make their points, no matter which side of the global warming fence they stand on). However, my take on this is that even if, for the sake of argument, this warming is real and is happening exactly as described by these studies, I don’t necessarily see how that will result in a “Malthusian nightmare”. Yes, places will be flooded, and that will be very bad. It does not, however, follow that there will be too many people to feed. Yes, desertification is also a problem, but that’s mostly a problem in places with pre-existing deserts, and it’s not like nothing’s being done to stop that. On top of that, the deserts and the areas near them are hardly the breadbaskets of the world (Egypt’s Nile Delta excluded). Combine that with the aforementioned estimates that the number of children being born is lessening (at least in the Western World) and while you have a situation that isn’t great, you certainly don’t have a “perfect storm”. Much of the increase in population of recent years is to do with a severe lowering of the death rate in Western countries, so people aren’t dying as often or as soon. If the birth rate declines (and it’s already below replacement level in almost half of the world’s countries, source: ^ esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Analytical-Figures/htm/fig_8.htm), it could be that the world population sort of levels off. Thus, the picture of an endlessly-exploding population that ends with people having to compete for food like wild beasts simply doesn’t hold up. It simply isn’t growing as fast as you’d think. Also, it’s not like we aren’t inventing better ways to get food from the soil, although I don’t have any links on that at the moment. Maybe later.
 
Roger12345 said:
Overpopulation is the biggest problem facing the world today. The climate is measurably warming up as a result of pollution; many species of animals are becoming extinct, fossil fuel can’t last forever. Water is going to become scarce in the future as the population continues to stress the environment. It’s obvious that the next one or two hundred years is going to be a catastrophic time in human history. What is the Catholic Church’s position on overpopulation and how to best deal with the problem?
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My friend, you could not be more mistaken. Western countries are not overpopulated, quite the opposite. They are in a demographic collapse. People in Europe and the US desperately need to have more children.
 
The problem is not over population. All the issues you mention are problems around mismanagement and waste of resources.

Now to your point that if we run out of fossil fuels many Americans will have a hard time then I’d agree. Americans and other cultures that are used to abundant cheap energy will be drastically impacted if that teat runs dry. Just look at the chaos that happened in NYC after Sandy. But again this isn’t an overpopulation issue.

Ultimately I think much of the issues you point out come down to an overindulgent throwaway society that doesn’t know the difference between wants and needs. For instance people in Colorado (an arid high plains state) don’t need to use 20-30,000 gallons of water each month to have a green lawn. They want a pretty law and chose to use water that way. Let’s put it this way, that amount of water could supply drinking water for 1000+ people for a month.
 
If God thought there was a problem with the population, he would fix it.

It’s not the Church’s job to determine what number constitutes “overpopulation.” It’s the Church’s job to offer sacraments to the faithful and teach them, no matter how many people there are on this earth.
 
The original poster REALLY needs to watch this video. It will burst the bubble of the echo chamber you are in. We are on the precipice of a HUGE demographic winter. In the next 50 years, we are going to have HUGE problems. The population of the world will decrease and staggering conditions will happen.

youtube.com/watch?v=jxUD8E-qbyI
 
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