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Page added on January 9, 2014
People have overfilled world
Our population continues to grow: From 1950 to 2013 the United States grew from 152 to 316 million and the world from 2.5 to 7.2 billion; United Nations projections suggest 9.6 billion by 2050.
But ecological footprint analysis indicates we already use 1.5 world’s worth of resources to live, and would use 5.4 world’s worth if everyone lived a U.S. lifestyle.
We have overfilled the world, but the nonrenewable resources that allow this are being used up.
Much of our reluctance to address growth arises from the global dominance of neoclassical economics, which requires growth to work properly, and has a long history of success.
This success has caused us to resist the fact that the world is now full and that further growth is not in our best interest; it will not yield more land, energy, or water, and will not alleviate overcrowding, unemployment, or loss of wild places.
A new economy that recognizes the limits to growth and creates methods to balance population with resource availability is needed.
The growth problem is exacerbated by a view that family size is a personal or religious matter, but ignores ethical considerations about how large family size contributes to population growth.
This lack of ethical discussion suggests a failure to grasp the magnitude of the problem; we clearly have the reproductive capacity to overwhelm the world.
Education, coupled with contraception, has overcome the problem in some places, but the overall picture, as portrayed in the first paragraph, shows we have a long way to go.
Much that is happening in the world suggests the need for an economy that does not rely on growth.
The little that is being done to satisfy that need exposes a parallel need for public education to help us understand the relationship between growth and finite resources.
Talk of “sustainable growth,” for instance, reveals a complete misunderstanding of the concept.
3 Comments on "People have overfilled world"
GregT on Thu, 9th Jan 2014 2:24 am
“Much that is happening in the world suggests the need for an economy that does not rely on growth.”
Close. Much that is happening in the world DEMANDS the need for an economy that does not rely on growth. Unfortunately, once again, most people are not paying attention.
Sustainable growth is an oxymoron. It not only reveals a misunderstanding of the concept, it reveals a misunderstanding of reality. Infinite exponential growth, in a finite environment, is a mathematical, and physical impossibility. Yet we still listen to our ‘leaders’ chant on daily about continued economic growth.
We are getting very close to the point, that people will be in for a very, rude, awakening.
ghung on Thu, 9th Jan 2014 2:58 pm
“A new economy that recognizes the limits to growth and creates methods to balance population with resource availability is needed.”
Balancing consumption and controlling resulting waste streams is needed, and population control is a subset of a larger behavioural issue.
“Education, coupled with contraception, has overcome the problem in some places….”
Where?
The issue is one of overall human behaviour. How we intentionally begin to dramatically modify the collective behaviour of a species of 7 billion, in the time-frame that nature will allow has me stumped. My conclusion is that humans will be compelled (forced) to change their ways, and will fight it until they can’t. Any attempts to legislate or dictate change on the scale required to even minimize the ongoing catastrophe will fall short. As we’ve seen, even China’s semi-draconian one-child policy has slowed but not halted their growth, and is being ‘softened’, since it’s caused other problems.
I don’t believe it’s possible to manage contraction in a global human environment. We can’t even manage growth. Tough times for the planet, dead ahead.
Kenz300 on Thu, 9th Jan 2014 5:48 pm
Access to family planning services needs to be available to all that want it.
If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child.