Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on January 23, 2013
Filmmaker Sir David Attenborough Calls Humans a Plague
Sir David Attenborough, the famed British naturalist and television presenter, has some harsh words for humanity.
“We are a plague on the Earth,” Attenborough told the Radio Times, as reported by the Telegraph. “It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so.”
Attenborough went on to say that both climate change and “sheer space” were looming problems for humanity.
“Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now,” he said.
Sir David is not the only naturalist who has warned of population growth outstripping resources. Paul Ehrlich, the president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University and author of “The Population Bomb” (Sierra Club-Ballantine, 1968) has long used language similar to Attenborough’s. And in 2011, an analysis of species loss suggested that humans are beginning to cause a mass extinction on the order of the one that killed the dinosaurs.
When asked about Attenborough’s comments on humanity as its own scourge, Ehrlich told LiveScience he “completely agree[d], as does every other scientist who understands the situation.” [Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth]
Even so, that doesn’t mean forceful measures must be taken. “Government propaganda, taxes, giving every sexually active human being access to modern contraception and backup abortion, and, especially, giving women absolutely equal rights and opportunities with men might very well get the global population shrinkage required if a collapse is to be avoided,” Ehrlich said.
In fact, providing free, reliable birth control to women could prevent between 41 percent and 71 percent of abortions in the United States, according to a study detailed in the Oct. 4, 2012, issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Other scientists also agreed to some extent with the heart of Attenborough’s message.
“It’s clear that increasing population growth makes some of our biggest environmental challenges harder to solve, not easier,” said from Jerry Karnas, population campaign director for the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz.
Karnas added, however, “What’s needed is not population control but a real emphasis on reproductive rights, women’s empowerment, universal access to birth control and education, so more freedom for folks to make better, more informed family planning choices.”
And population numbers would matter less for the planet’s health if clean renewable energy were widely adopted as well as planning laws, he told LiveScience during an interview.
Attenborough is famous for his “Life on Earth” series of wildlife documentaries, among other nature programming. In 2009, he became a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, a group that advocates voluntary population limitation. At the time, he released a statement saying, “I’ve seen wildlife under mounting human pressure all over the world and it’s not just from human economy or technology — behind every threat is the frightening explosion in human numbers.”
Earth’s population reached 7 billion people on or around Oct. 31, 2011, according to United Nations estimates.
10 Comments on "Filmmaker Sir David Attenborough Calls Humans a Plague"
GregT on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 12:57 am
Attenborough is of course correct, humans are a plague to the earth. More appropriately though, humans are a parasitic plague.
Plague:
The plague is a either a disease that has a high mortality rate or a calamity with widespread and serious consequences for its victims.
Parasite:
An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.
BillT on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 1:25 am
Here in the Philippines, they have been trying to get a Family Planning (birth control) law passed for decades. They finally did it last month over the strong objections of the Catholic Church which holds a lot of power here. 81% of the 96 million Filipinos are Catholic and the Church threatened all kinds of retaliation if it was passed. They are still fighting to get it repealed. (Muslims and Mormons are also anti-contraceptive/abortion.)
THAT is what must be overcome if populations are to be slowed and reversed, but I think it is too late. We will see the most bloodshed and death in history this century and probably in the next few decades.
DC on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 2:05 am
And in 1903, the Census recorded ~ 7.6 million people.
In 2010, over 92 million.
A factor of 12 increase in 107 just years! less than 2 human lifetimes.
Current Growth rate 2.0 % A doubling time of just 28 years. Is there room for 184,000,000 Filipinos in 2040? I guess Ill see for myself. I fully intend to be around to see to see how it works out, or does not. Not just for them, but for all of us.
rollin on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 4:46 am
With all that is going on in the world, anyone that thinks population will dramatically increase is not looking at the facts. We are at the limits of growth. It’s downhill from here, how fast is the question. Population will continue to grow for a while due to demographics, but resource loss,food, and water problems will limit growth and reverse it.
The other fact that is often ignored by these self-deluded anti-birth fanatics is that most of the resources are used by less than one tenth of the population. It’s mostly a greed and over-indulgance problem right now.
GregT on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 5:36 am
“The other fact that is often ignored by these self-deluded anti-birth fanatics is that most of the resources are used by less than one tenth of the population. It’s mostly a greed and over-indulgance problem right now.”
Yep, and those 10 percent will go down kicking and screaming. They will not give up without a fight, and they will do everything in their power to make believe that their business as usual will not end.
Newfie on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 9:06 am
A growth rate 2 % is a doubling time of 35. The Rule of 70. DIvide the growth rate into 70 to get the doubling time.
Frank Kling on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 1:09 pm
“rollin” tells us that the population is downhill from here. That’s funny, last I checked the world human population bloated by an additional 225,000 today so maybe the writer should define when “from here it’s downhill” begins.
Frank Kling on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 1:11 pm
I forgot to mention that in this same time period 200 animal and plant species were driven extinct.
GregT on Thu, 24th Jan 2013 4:03 pm
Even if the population was in decline, we are already in a state of overshoot to the tune of an excess of 6 billion people. The only thing that is stopping a massive human die off, is oil.
BillT on Fri, 25th Jan 2013 2:19 am
Bingo GregT!