T
tjm190
Guest
Since you clicked on this thread, you’ve probably assumed one of two things-
A. That I am going to condemn Church family teaching based on overpopulation
B. That I am going to attack the “myth” of overpopulation.
I, however, do not intend on doing either. While I do believe, and in this thread will attempt to demonstrate, that we are overpopulated I am not going to end with “and therefore, XXX is moral/immoral.”
So-
My objective- Attempt to demonstrate why I believe the Earth is overpopulated.
My bias- At the moment, I honestly believe that there is no legitimate defense of the opposite view point. So, I must assume that any rejection of overpopulation is based on a lack of knowledge or misinformation. Hopefully, this will be dispelled.
My definitions- I define “local overpopulation” to describe any group of individuals who can not be supported by their local environment at their current rate of consumption. This isn’t always bad- most cities fit this description. I define “general overpopulation” to describe any group of individuals who can not continuing existing at current rates of consumption without extraordinary outside aid. I define “extreme overpopulation” to describe any group of individuals who are not only overpopulated, but are forcing their carrying capacity downward.
My argument- Here we go…
People’s favorite thing to “pick” at when it comes to over population if food supply. This is no doubt because of the Malthan prediction that the world would be out of food before the dawn of the 20th century. Of course, the vast increases to agricultural productivity that came from mechanization was completely unprecedented, unless you include the Neolithic Revolution (circa 8000 b.c.) so Malthus’s mistake is easily forgivable.
But when talking about food, geography is important. Although the US is known for over eating, one would be hard pressed to find a country more able to provide for itself in that department. We export more maize and wheat then the rest of the world combined- and we pay farmers not use all of their land! But parts of the world that provide for themselves are the ones having issues.
For example, you probably haven’t heard of desertification. And if you had, you probably assumed climate change was to blame. Not so.
A great deal of sub-Saharan peoples practice pastoral nomadism. This system has worked to a satisfactory extent for most of human history, but since Africa’s population has ballooned in recent years (for reasons I’ll go into if someone expresses interest, but for now I’ve got enough on my plate) all of this grazing has destroyed the plant life, which in turn destroyed the soil- and so the desert makes a push to the south. The UN saw this, and figured that farming was the way to go. So they built wells, which drained the aquifers, which killed the plant life so…- it’s almost Shakespearean.
Now- Water.
Tied directly to the issue of food is water. Water tables have been declining on nearly continent. Aquifers, even the ones that “power” the United State’s farming machine are nearing dangerously low levels. This is important because, even if current food production can support current growth trends, it’s quite possible that food production will peak and perhaps decline in the near future. Desalinization is currently believed to be a possible alternative- but it’s important to remember that the cost of pumping water from the ocean, removing the salt, and then transporting it to farming regions would probably be hundreds of times more expensive than our farmers currently pay for water.
I had wanted to continue, but I seem to have created a nice wall of text as it is. The purpose of this thread it simply to give information to those interested in a topic that I’m relatively knowledgeable on- if anyone has interest on the impact of population on other areas I’ll be happy to oblige should I be able.
A. That I am going to condemn Church family teaching based on overpopulation
B. That I am going to attack the “myth” of overpopulation.
I, however, do not intend on doing either. While I do believe, and in this thread will attempt to demonstrate, that we are overpopulated I am not going to end with “and therefore, XXX is moral/immoral.”
So-
My objective- Attempt to demonstrate why I believe the Earth is overpopulated.
My bias- At the moment, I honestly believe that there is no legitimate defense of the opposite view point. So, I must assume that any rejection of overpopulation is based on a lack of knowledge or misinformation. Hopefully, this will be dispelled.
My definitions- I define “local overpopulation” to describe any group of individuals who can not be supported by their local environment at their current rate of consumption. This isn’t always bad- most cities fit this description. I define “general overpopulation” to describe any group of individuals who can not continuing existing at current rates of consumption without extraordinary outside aid. I define “extreme overpopulation” to describe any group of individuals who are not only overpopulated, but are forcing their carrying capacity downward.
My argument- Here we go…
People’s favorite thing to “pick” at when it comes to over population if food supply. This is no doubt because of the Malthan prediction that the world would be out of food before the dawn of the 20th century. Of course, the vast increases to agricultural productivity that came from mechanization was completely unprecedented, unless you include the Neolithic Revolution (circa 8000 b.c.) so Malthus’s mistake is easily forgivable.
But when talking about food, geography is important. Although the US is known for over eating, one would be hard pressed to find a country more able to provide for itself in that department. We export more maize and wheat then the rest of the world combined- and we pay farmers not use all of their land! But parts of the world that provide for themselves are the ones having issues.
For example, you probably haven’t heard of desertification. And if you had, you probably assumed climate change was to blame. Not so.
A great deal of sub-Saharan peoples practice pastoral nomadism. This system has worked to a satisfactory extent for most of human history, but since Africa’s population has ballooned in recent years (for reasons I’ll go into if someone expresses interest, but for now I’ve got enough on my plate) all of this grazing has destroyed the plant life, which in turn destroyed the soil- and so the desert makes a push to the south. The UN saw this, and figured that farming was the way to go. So they built wells, which drained the aquifers, which killed the plant life so…- it’s almost Shakespearean.
Now- Water.
Tied directly to the issue of food is water. Water tables have been declining on nearly continent. Aquifers, even the ones that “power” the United State’s farming machine are nearing dangerously low levels. This is important because, even if current food production can support current growth trends, it’s quite possible that food production will peak and perhaps decline in the near future. Desalinization is currently believed to be a possible alternative- but it’s important to remember that the cost of pumping water from the ocean, removing the salt, and then transporting it to farming regions would probably be hundreds of times more expensive than our farmers currently pay for water.
I had wanted to continue, but I seem to have created a nice wall of text as it is. The purpose of this thread it simply to give information to those interested in a topic that I’m relatively knowledgeable on- if anyone has interest on the impact of population on other areas I’ll be happy to oblige should I be able.
