I have mentioned this topic a few times in the past but there were no takers. And, what topic might this be as I have touched on any number of subjects? Overpopulation. In short, unless we can find better things to do in our spare time, we are literally going to fornicate ourselves out of existence.
In 1992 the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a statement that was signed by some 15,000 scientists from 184 different countries wherein they declared that the “runaway consumption of natural resources by an exploding population remains the biggest danger facing humankind”, citing not only climate change, deforestation, loss of access to fresh water, animal species extinction and especially uncontrolled human population growth as threatening mankind and the Earth’s future. And if we are to save the planet, we should eat less meat, have fewer kids, consume less and utilize green energy.
This doomsday warning has not abated since it was issued 25 years ago. In that time the amount of available fresh water has decreased by 26%, the number of ocean ‘dead zones’, where nothing can live or grow, has increased by 75%, carbon emissions and the average temperatures are still rising, 300,000,000 acres of forest have been lost due to agricultural needs, wild life including fish have decreased by 29% while the population of the world has increased by 35%. Where is all of this leading? I will not bring politics into this discussion. But I will say that it does not take an Actuary, Accountant or anyone who can deal with numbers to figure out where it is all heading. The age old maxim stating that the rich get richer while the poor have babies has not changed.
There are a number of people out there who will say that these remarks are anti-religion or racist or at least anti-this or anti-that. They can call it whatever they like but one thing is for certain, to ignore the effects of overpopulation is inviting disaster. Others say that climate change is our biggest problem. Wrong. What they fail to recognize or admit is that climate change is not only one of the many by products of overpopulation and that uncontrolled rapid population growth is the driving force behind many of our ecological problems as well as the burgeoning societal threats that fester across the planet.
We also have some day dreamers who say that we should not worry about the effects of overpopulation because not too far off in the future we will be living on other planets or moons in other parts of our galaxy. Because of the enormous costs of having people colonize other parts of our galaxy, the only ones who will be doing that will be those who are the healthiest and the brightest of our species and certainly NOT your average couple, unless of course they are among the wealthiest.
When I was a kid (some say I’m still a kid), the population of our planet was just shy of 2 billion. Now it’s almost 7.5 billion, representing an increase of 375% in about 80 years. And that is after a war which has taken, according to some sources, more than 50 million lives. The resulting increase is not on a straight line basis but on an upward swinging curve, which means that the percent increase over the next 80 years is going to be something way in excess of 375%. In mathematical terms it is an exponential increase.
So what will be the ultimate result of this overpopulation? If we don’t blow ourselves up in the meantime, if that ten mile wide asteroid or comet never enters our atmosphere and if none of our present day germs ever morph into a vaccine resistant superbug, we are looking at future scenes on our planet that are not unlike the daily scenes that we presently have in parts of India where segments of the population bathe and defecate in the same river. The lunatic fringe will become bigger and crazier than ever. Fanatical groups will become more fanatical and stick their noses into more issues than ever. Social problems, both real and imaginary, will become larger and more difficult to deal with than ever. Everything that you presently dislike about our world will increase many times over.
Think about it.