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Page added on April 11, 2016
The population problem: should the Pope tell people to stop breeding like rabbits?
Image by Rakka.
In this post, I argue that overpopulation is a complex problem that has to do with human choices at the level of single families. It is not impossible that such choices will eventually lead to a stabilization of the world population at a sustainable level. It has happened in some historical cases, such as in Japan during the Edo period.
The population question arises strong feelings everytime it is mentioned and there is a general feeling that people will keep reproducing like rabbits unless something drastic is done to stop them. This position often goes in parallel with criticism to religious leaders and to religions in general, accused of encouraging people to reproduce like rabbits. Or, at least, to hide the fact that reproducing like rabbits is bad for the planet.
But is it true that people tend to reproduce like rabbits? And would they stop if someone, let’s say the pope, were to tell them to stop? Maybe, but things cannot be so simple. Let me show you an example: Japan during the Edo period.
The population of Japan during the Edo Period (uncorrected data as reported by the bBafuku government). It shows how it is perfectly possible to attain a stable population in an agricultural society, even without “top-down” rules and laws. (data source, see also this link)
Note how the population has remained relatively constant for at least 150 years. It is a fascinating story, discussed in detail in the book “Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660–1950” by Fabian Drixler. Here is an illustration from the book:
Another impressive set of data: the net reproduction rates in Japan remained around or below the replacement rate during the Edo period, keeping the population constant for, indeed, something like one century and a half. It is also impressive to note how the reproduction rate literally exploded afterward, bringing the Japanese population from the ca. 25 millions of the Edo period to the present level of around 125 million, five times larger. Note also how rapidly the reproduction rate collapsed after the 1950s; it is a stark example of what we call the “demographic transition.”
As we can see from these data, human reproduction strategies are much more complex than what you would imagine if you limit yourself to the biblical commandment “grow and multiply”. The Japanese did NOT reproduce like rabbits during the Edo period. It doesn’t appear that they were forced to reduce their birthrate by the government or by religious credences. Some famines are reported in Japan during the Edo period, but they couldn’t have been truly disastrous, otherwise you would see their effects in the population curve. The population remained stable, it seems, mainly by “bottom-up” strategies at the level of single women or single families: contraception and, when that was not enough, infanticide.
So, what led the Japanese families to choose (rather than being forced) to limit their reproduction rate? There is plenty of scientific literature on the strategies of reproduction of various species, including the human one. The basic idea is that, in all cases, parents have a choice on how to employ their limited resources. Either they invest in having a large number of offspring (the “r-strategy”, also the “rabbit strategy”) or they invest in caring for their young until they reach adulthood (the “K-strategy” or the “Elephant strategy”). The choice of the reproductive strategy depends on the situation. Let me cite directly from a paper by Figueredo et al. (1)
…… all things being equal, species living in unstable (e.g., fluctuation in food availability) and unpredictable (e.g., high predation) environments tend to evolve clusters of “r-selected” traits associated with high reproductive rates, low parental investment, and relatively short intergeneration times. In contrast, species living in stable and predictable environmental conditions tend to evolve clusters of “K-selected” traits associated with low reproductive rates, high parental investment, and long intergeneration times.
Humans, clearly, are more like elephants than like rabbits. The number of children that a human female can give birth to is limited, and it is normally a good strategy for her to maximize the survival chances of fewer children, rather than trying to have as many as possible. So, for most of humankind’s history a family – or a single woman – would examine its environment and make a rough estimate of what chances their (or her) children could have to survive and prosper. In conditions of limited resources and strong competition, it makes sense for parents to maximize the health and fitness of their children by having a small number of them. It seems to be what happened in Japan during the Edo period: facing limited resources in a limited island, people decided to limit the number of their offspring, applying the “K-strategy.”
The opposite is true for periods of abundant resources and scarce competition. When the economy is growing, families may well project this growth to the future and estimate that their children will have plenty of opportunities, then it makes sense to have a larger number of them – hence to apply the “r-strategy”. The dramatic growth of population during the past 1-2 centuries is the result of the increasing consumption of fossil fuels. Everywhere, and in Japan as well, people reacted by filling up what they saw as open slots for their children. But with the second half of the 20th century, economic growth slowed down and people started to perceive that the world was rapidly filling up and that the economy wasn’t growing anymore. They may not have perceived the depletion of mineral resources, but the result was obvious anyway. It was the “demographic transition,” normally related to increasing wealth, but that we may also see as the result of a perception of the future that was seen as less rosy than before.
There are other cases of human populations that remained stable for some periods, so we may conclude that humans do not – definitely – reproduce like rabbits; except in some very special are rare conditions of history. Humans are intelligent creatures and, within some limits, they choose how many children to have in such a way to maximize their survival probabilities. The human population will tend to grow in a condition of economic growth, but it should tend to stabilize in static economic conditions. So, if we were able to stabilize the economic system, avoiding major wars and the need of cannon fodder, then the human population may well stabilize by itself, without any need for a “top-down” intervention by governments (or maybe by the Pope). Unfortunately, between now and then, there is a little problem called “overshoot” and stabilization at a sustainable level may be anything but painless. But if stabilization was possible on the island of Japan during the 19th century, why can’t it happen in the larger island that we call “Earth”?
See also a post of mine titled “The cuckoo that won’t sing: sustainability and Japanese culture“
Cassandra’s legacy by Ugo Bardi
49 Comments on "The population problem: should the Pope tell people to stop breeding like rabbits?"
onlooker on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 3:48 pm
Does not matter who tells the people to stop breeding. We will continue to breed as that is the biological imperative and no cheap, widespread, accessible and simple method has yet been found except for condoms to stop it. As for condoms, men do not like them, women are ashamed to buy them or even do not have ready access to them or people use them in the wrong way. Nature does have an ironic twist to it.
Davy on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 4:24 pm
It will have little impact for anyone to stop breeding at the macro level. The breeding bulge is beyond management. In any case the effects of a pre-bottleneck death bulge are coming soon. It is the natural mortality process that will make a difference. Deaths over births will be the name of the game soon from here on out possibly to extinction.
The more kids you have the more at risk you will put yourself and them. Having kids and being poor is likewise bad for your health and their health. The rich and educated should know better and set an example but we know how that will turn out. We should let people know breeding is dangerous with a world in overshoot but that would not jive with the status quo narrative of insanity. We should tell them breeding is dangerous as we tell them smoking is dangerous.
This population rebalance is above management at the macro level but it is very important at the personal level. Breed wisely or don’t breed at all. Your health and your offspring’s health matter more than ever on breeding wisely.
Bob Owens on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 4:28 pm
Unfortunately the world is over-populated by a factor of 10. Billions live in poverty; wars are rampant. The list of ills is long. Until we lose 90% of our population we can’t achieve something like stability in our world. Japan is basically a small island. Stability of population is forced upon them, more or less. The same effect can be observed on many Pacific Islands. Easter Island went in the reverse direction with overshoot and collapse. That will be the fate of the Earth’s population; we are well into overshoot.
Boat on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 5:40 pm
Every nation in the world should be talking about voluntary population reduction. No tax breaks for kids would be a good start. Tax breaks for no kids another.
Of course this means no immigration.
GregT on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 6:05 pm
“Of course this means no immigration.”
Or emigration. Keep that one stored for future consideration Kevie.
Roman on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 6:46 pm
Only the mentally ill want to have children. Mental illness is what keeps humans from going extinct.
Apneaman on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 7:02 pm
Overpopulation is self solving. Won’t be long now. We pulled the grenade pin and threw it away a couple decades ago.
Bhubaneswar records highest ever April temp at 45.8 degree Celsius
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Bhubaneswar-records-highest-ever-April-temp-at-45-8-degree-Celsius/articleshow/51783080.cms
Apneaman on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 7:09 pm
Warm, Southerly Winds Gust at Hurricane Force Over Greenland in Staggering Early Season Heatwave — Temperatures Now Hitting up to 41 Degrees (F) Above Average at Summit
“As we have seen with Sandy, the Pacific Hot Blob, the UK floods, The California Drought, The Record Alaska and Canadian Wildfire Seasons of 2015, the Russian Heatwave and Fires of 2011, the Pakistan Floods of 2011, and so, so many more extreme weather events, these new climate features present a risk of generating extraordinary or never before seen weather. Intense storms, extreme winds, and extreme cold flashes and heatwaves can all be generated as the result of such mangled weather patterns. And for much of the North Atlantic this past weekend, such abnormal conditions dominated. The US East Coast experienced a freak cold flash, the UK was pummeled by yet one more unseasonable gale, but perhaps worst of all — a head of extraordinarily warm air roared northward, riding upon gale to hurricane force winds, setting sights on Greenland.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/04/11/warm-southerly-winds-gust-at-hurricane-force-over-greenland-in-staggering-early-season-heatwave-temperatures-now-hitting-up-to-41-degrees-f-above-average-at-summit/
makati1 on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 7:36 pm
Ap, the population increase will not last much longer. Mother Nature has been preparing the antidote for some time now. Even though we have killed off the big predators that controlled human population in the past, the new ones are so small we cannot even see them. First she will weaken the species with climate change, stress, and poor food and then … Bam!
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-nerves-insight-idUSKCN0X22TP?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
And, of course, humanity, in its arrogance will help all of these along with our own brand of chaos and insanity.
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-end-of-the-american-empire/
Pass the popcorn. The show is getting better and better.
Harquebus on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 8:34 pm
“Using his burgeoning intelligence, this most successful of all mammals has exploited the environment to produce food for an ever increasing population. Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps it’s time we controlled the population to allow the survival of the environment.” — David Attenborough
“Modern agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food.” — Prof. Albert Bartlett.
Population reduction is inevitable and if we don’t do it voluntarily, nature will do it for us and it won’t be pretty.
Apneaman on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 9:45 pm
Hothouse Gas Spikes to Extreme 409.3 Parts Per Million on April 10 — Record Rate of Atmospheric CO2 Increase Likely for 2016
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/04/11/hothouse-gas-spikes-to-extreme-409-3-parts-per-million-on-april-10-record-rate-of-atmospheric-co2-increase-likely-for-2016/
Apneaman on Mon, 11th Apr 2016 10:21 pm
Selection pressures push plants over adaption cliff
New study has significant implications for how we address rapid climate change
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160411082740.htm
Apneaman on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 1:17 am
Global Fisheries Are Collapsing — What Happens When There Are No Fish Left?
“Many scientists, like Daniel Pauly of the University of British Columbia, have estimated that the total fish catch for the planet peaked back in the mid-1980s, and has been declining ever since.
Most scientists studying the issue agree that the three primary causes of the crisis are overfishing, plastic pollution and anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD).
But several, like Dr. Simon Boxall, an associate professor of oceanography with the University of Southampton, singled out overfishing as the largest culprit.
“The big problem is that we are overfishing,” Boxall told Truthout. “The [fisheries] management isn’t working, and is in fact causing just as much destruction [as] if there was no management in the first place.”
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35574-global-fisheries-are-collapsing-what-happens-when-there-are-no-fish-left
dooma on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 1:22 am
What pisses me off the most about the Pope is when he visits countries in Africa and tells them not to use condoms.
This-despite the fact-that AIDS causes a miserable death for many, including totally innocent babies.
Oh that’s right, these babies are all ready born sinners according to the bible. So yeah, let them die.
makati1 on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 2:11 am
dooma, you are beginning to see behind the religious veil. They are no more “righteous” than the other mafias of the world. Power and wealth. Bleed the poor and build temples to themselves. Been doing it for millenia. And you have no choice. Infant baptism, Sunday school, etc. Most never break the chains they were locked into at birth.
Promise them an eternity with their family in “heaven”(if ALL of their family toe the mark and pay at least 10% of their income to the church), a godhood, and other bennies if they only toe the mark and give at least 10% of their income to the church. THAT is the ‘blessings’ of being a Mormon. Been there. Seen the bullshit and lies that the priesthood spew out regularly while pretending to be “chose of God”.
The High Priest Group Leader in my Ward was later caught in a Central American country as he was wanted by the FBI for child molesting. I could go on with many examples, but you get the idea.
theedrich on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 2:30 am
“Note also how rapidly the reproduction rate collapsed after the 1950s; it is a stark example of what we call the ‘demographic transition’,”
The author fails to mention that the obvious reason for the post-1950s collapse is that the U.S. had genocided Japan in World War II. It had originally been population pressure that forced the Japanese government to go on a war of expansion for land and raw materials to begin with. The U.S. wanted to get into WW II in Europe, and so ensnared Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. (Of course the pathological killers in D.C. painted everything in apocalyptic religious terms, with the Japs as demons from hell, because that way you could feel better about slaughtering them en masse.)
It is interesting that the author should bring up the issue of “r-strategy” versus “K-strategy.” Professor J. Philippe Rushton of the University of Western Ontario, in his RACE, EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR: A Life History Perspective, has pointed out that the reason Negroes have such high reproduction rates and so little care for their offspring (abandoning them to be cared for by White-Guilt-saturated Whites) is because evolution in precarious Africa has predisposed them to be r-strategists. In contrast, races in northern climes (especially Mongoloids) are evolutionarily imbued with the K-strategy of survival. In other words, the Japanese react intelligently to environmental limitations. Negroes do not — in fact, largely can not.
The article, of course, only does a comparison of the human species with animal species, not some human races with other human races, since that would be politically incorrect. But if one looks at the overall population picture today, one finds that the greatest growth is among the Negroid and Sand Negroid types, whereas Caucasoids and Mongoloids are contracting. Naturally culture (e.g., Mohammedanism) plays a role, but underlying the difference is race.
Furthermore, r-strategy is stronger the further down the evolutionary tree one goes: it dominates among the lesser-evolved Protomongoloids of Latin America and other tropical types. Hence their push to invade rapidly contracting White societies rather than controlling their own reproduction. The current socio-economic conditions of globalization favor this invasion, and it is virtually impossible to stop it, given the political power of the Sörös-type billionaires at the top of the food chain. The Mongoloid countries of east Asia are too intelligent to allow such lower level beings to exacerbate their already difficult economic situations, and forbid any serious immigration of those creatures into Mongoloid living spaces. The Christian West is too hypnotized by its biblical White-Guilt propaganda to follow the Mongoloid example.
So we can expect that the r-strategist Third World will overwhelm the K-strategist, American-led, genosuicidal West and destroy its infrastructure by exhaustion. End of story.
derhundistlos on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 2:30 am
Stop with the animal similes and metaphors.
derhundistlos on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 2:39 am
We all say to ourselves that the elite know full well that ecological collapse is in the near future so why is no decisive action being taken?
In the Ozark mountains of Missouri, there is a building boom in massive underground facilities replete with 30 foot thick, self-sealing blast doors. So many supplies are being delivered that a rail spur was built directly offloading right outside some of the facilities.
The elite are not concerned since their bug out plan is in place, either below ground or off planet or both.
onlooker on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 3:11 am
Religion one of the oldest methods of mass control and probably the most hypocritical institution even devised by Man.
Davy on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 5:49 am
“What pisses me off the most about the Pope is when he visits countries in Africa and tells them not to use condoms.” I am no fan of the Catholic faith’s population policies but Dooma do you have any support for that statement? If you do I would like to see it. Pope Francis is taking a new direction and addressing some of the past failures. I recall nothing of him telling Africans not to use condoms. In any case it is too bad it is too late for the Pope or anyone else including people like us across the net crying out. Our Abrahamic religions have ensured overshoot but only after our real religion of capitalism and corrupted democracy sealed our fate.
Davy on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 5:53 am
Derhundistlos if you are referring to my humble doomstead you are mistaken. Seriously, are we being sarcastic? I know of no effort down here. Plenty of “back to the landers” and skin head militias down here in the poor backwards Ozarks but no elite hideaways. If you have any details I will go check it out and get back to you. If you are being funny and ridiculing me I am laughing and like your sense of humor.
Davy on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 6:02 am
“Religion one of the oldest methods of mass control and probably the most hypocritical institution even devised by Man.” Onlooker the anti-religion types are just as deceived and absorbed by their own omnipotence of thinking they are above religion by being anti-religious. They suffer the same symptoms of mass control and hypocrisy they just think they are clever and above control. What a joke because they are human and part of the evolutionary dead end of an ape like creature with a large brain.
Religion is much more than the talk we get here from the intellectual rabble. Religion is also thousands of years of tradition. It is real community and spirituality at the small group and individual level. It is completely corrupted at the level of the state I fully agree. If a significant amount of what we call religion is intellectual distortions and political control that does not mean everything is bad about it. Reactionary forces are just as bad as the revolutionary forces because both are extremists in polarity.
dooma on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 6:58 am
Yes, David, I can deep some proof up for you. It was not a wild accusation, I remember it reported in the press quite vividly.
dooma on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 7:01 am
here you go…enjoy
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/17/pope-africa-condoms-aids
Davy on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 7:09 am
Dooma, that was the other pope. The one that was clearly too old to be anything let alone a pope. The pope that turned a blind eye to child molestation. That was also 2009 not 2016. I am just fact checking because Pope Francis is a different kind of pope not that it is going to make much difference.
dooma on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 7:12 am
Hey Mak, you are “preaching to the converted” pardon the pun.
I had the misfortune of being sent to a religious school and I had to put up with the “guy in the sky” BS for that entire time. I think it took 3 months of my first year of school to realise that these happy clappers were delusional and potentially dangerous.
dooma on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 7:19 am
Yes Davy, we have just had a royal commission in sexual abuse committed by the Catholic Church and the head of the Australian Catholic church protected the priests involved. Now he is safe in the Vatican.
The Catholic church is not the only organisation guilty of these acts. I just hope that it never happens again.
makati1 on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 8:21 am
Sorry, dooms, but sometimes I get carried away. I actually had to give sermons when I was in the Mormon Church, but being in the bishopric for 20 years, I saw how religions work. Mind and body control. The elders each had several families they had to visit every month to “see how the family was doing” and/or, to report any deviation from church doctrine. But you know that. There I go again. LOL
Kenz300 on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 8:53 am
The worlds poorest people are having the most children. They have not figured out the connection between their poverty and family size. Endless population growth is not sustainable. If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child. Having a child you can not provide for is cruel.
Birth Control Permanent Methods: Learn About Effectiveness
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/birth_control_permanent_methods/article_em.htm
Poverty in the Philippines –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XldM4DtlA-Y
joe on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 8:56 am
Logans Run! Logans Run! Logans Run!
Kenz300 on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 8:59 am
CLIMATE CHANGE, declining fish stocks, droughts, floods, air, water and land pollution, poverty, water and food shortages all stem from the worlds worst environmental problem……. OVER POPULATION.
Yet the world adds 80 million more mouths to feed, clothe, house and provide energy and water for every year… this is unsustainable… and is a big part of the Climate Change problem
Rescuing Homeless Children From the Streets of India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpaR_pTVeBk
Apneaman on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 5:27 pm
I think the Catholics church should make a compromise – split the difference and tell the faithful no more fucking in the front hole. It’s not like their employees don’t have a wealth of experience with that.
Apneaman on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 5:31 pm
Unlike the MSM/Hollywood cartoon version of Mother Teresa here is a much more realistic look at the saint.
Christopher Hitchens – Mother Teresa: Hell’s Angel
“Christopher Hitchens investigates whether Mother Teresa of Calcutta deserves her saintly image. Probes her campaigns against contraception and abortion and her relationships with right-wing political leaders. Contributors include the cameraman who worked on the 1969 film `Mother Teresa of Calcutta’ which was presented by Malcolm Muggeridge, the journalist Mihir Bose, and former volunteer Mary Loudon.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65JxnUW7Wk4&nohtml5=False
Apneaman on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 5:39 pm
India Population – 1,251,695,584 July 2015 est.
Heatwave Mass Casualties Strike India in April Amidst Severe Drought, Water Shortages
“Loss of water from snow melt in the Himalayas, increasing temperatures and instances of drought over the food-producing plains, and a potential endemic weakening of the annual monsoonal rains. These are all climate change related impacts that appear to be settling in over India as global temperatures consistently begin to hit levels higher than 1 C above 1880s values. Impacts that are setting up conditions for sustained and increasingly severe droughts and heatwaves.
****
Yesterday, temperatures rocketed to 114.44 degrees Fahrenheit (or 45.8 degrees Celsius) in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Odisha, on the Indian east coast. It was the hottest April reading ever recorded for a region that typically sees daily highs in the upper 90s this time of year. A level of heat that’s excessive even for this typically warm region.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/04/12/heatwave-mass-casualties-strike-india-amidst-severe-drought-water-shortages/
Maharashtra Drought: Water Train Reaches Latur – Video
http://www.thequint.com/videos/2016/04/12/maharashtra-drought-water-train-reaches-latur
Apneaman on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 6:15 pm
Greenland’s Melt Season Started Nearly Two Months Early
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/greenlands-melt-season-started-nearly-two-months-early-20237
Apneaman on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 6:23 pm
Why dead coral reefs could mark the beginning of ‘dangerous’ climate change
“It was a horror show,” Baum said. “Rationally I know what’s happened, but emotionally it’s very hard to accept it. It seems like it can’t possibly be real that this vibrant, healthy reef that I’ve been working on so long and studying so intensely — specifically because it was one of the healthiest reefs in the world — that it could just be dramatically transformed in a matter of months into this graveyard.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/04/12/why-dead-coral-reefs-stir-fears-of-dangerous-climate-change/
dooma on Tue, 12th Apr 2016 8:02 pm
It is okay Mak. It is obviously something that you feel very strongly about.
So do I
You have seen the “inner workings” at their most manipulative.
I am glad that you finally saw the light (another bad pun) and got out of the cult.
Apneaman on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 1:20 am
The Greenland Summer Melt Season Just Started in April
“12 Percent. That’s how much of Greenland’s surface experienced melt yesterday according to a report from DMI’s Polar Portal as an unprecedented flow of warm, wet air slammed into its great ice sheets. 10 Percent. That’s how much of Greenland’s ice sheet surface is required to melt in order to mark an official start to the Summer melt season. Late May or early June. That’s when Greenland melt season typically begins.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/04/12/the-greenland-summer-melt-season-just-started-in-april/
JuanP on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 7:59 am
“Humans, clearly, are more like elephants than like rabbits”
Ugo really defies logic on this one. Talk about wishful thinking! Humans are worse than rabbits because we understand the consequences of our actions, rabbits can’t do that. It is excessive human breeding that is causing the planet’s biosphere to be destroyed. The Japanese of the Edo period are neither typical nor representative of the human race, the world of today is, on the other hand.
Kenz300 on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 8:18 am
CLIMATE CHANGE, declining fish stocks, droughts, floods, air water and land pollution, poverty, water and food shortages all stem from the worlds worst environmental problem……. OVER POPULATION.
Yet the world adds 80 million more mouths to feed, clothe, house and provide energy and water for every year… this is unsustainable… and is a big part of the Climate Change problem
Birth Control Permanent Methods: Learn About Effectiveness
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/birth_control_permanent_methods/article_em.htm
Apneaman on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 9:30 am
Another deadly consequence of too many of us.
Biodiversity loss: An existential risk comparable to climate change
“Furthermore, there are myriad phenomena that are driving biodiversity loss in addition to climate change. Other causes include ecosystem fragmentation, invasive species, pollution, oxygen depletion caused by fertilizers running off into ponds and streams, overfishing, human overpopulation, and overconsumption. All of these phenomena have a direct impact on the health of the biosphere, and all would conceivably persist even if the problem of climate change were somehow immediately solved.”
http://thebulletin.org/biodiversity-loss-existential-risk-comparable-climate-change9329
GregT on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 9:31 am
“Humans, clearly, are more like elephants than like rabbits”
I’m having a problem with this one as well. Elephants are said to have very strong memories. Humans have attention spans more like rabbits.
Apneaman on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 9:41 am
Like I been saying, we ain’t going to be able to rebuild and repair forever.
Everything really is bigger in Texas – duck N cover y’all.
Epic hail pounds Texas, upping damage to nearly $2 billion this month – pictures
“The largest hailstones fell in Wylie, where hailstones were as large as 4.25 inches in diameter. ”
“In addition, this part of Texas averages 14 significant hail reports by this point in the year, yet so far in 2016 there have already been 30, the agency stated. ”
http://mashable.com/2016/04/12/epic-hail-smashes-texas/#uIwlfHxgCPqx
GregT on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 9:42 am
Loss of biodiversity is one of the main reasons why Guy McPherson sees NTE.
Being ‘Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology’ gives him a little bit of insight on this particular topic.
Apneaman on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 10:18 am
McPherson’s 2030 seem too soon for me, but what do I know? I do know that atmospheric chemists and physicists are the go to people for describing why and what is happening with the climate now, but as for what the effects will be on living things (especially us apes) it’s the biologly people that know the most. I also know that in the last 4-5 years many changes have happened “faster than previously expected”. Many climate models underestimated by many decades. If you said to me 7-8 years ago that things would progress this far in just 7-8 years, I would have told you to settle down. I thought the shit we are seeing now would not be starting until 2030 or later.
Davy on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 11:44 am
“Africa drought fears grip Malawi and Mozambique”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36037414
“Food shortage fears over a drought in southern Africa have prompted Malawi to declare a state of national disaster and Mozambique to issue a “red alert”. Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Zambia are also suffering food shortages, while South Africa says its drought is the worst in a century. Over 10 million people across the region will need food aid in the coming year, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).”
Davy on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 11:52 am
“Iraq may soon reach ‘point beyond repair,’ 8mn people need humanitarian aid – report”
https://www.rt.com/news/339444-iraq-point-repair-report/
“The vulnerability of internally-displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq has reached boiling point, with the situation aggravated by ongoing armed conflict. If diverse ethnic communities fail to co-exist, Iraq may soon be “beyond repair,” a new report warns.”
“There are currently 3.2 million IDPs in Iraq, which is in the middle of a war with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). More than 8 million people there are in need of humanitarian assistance, the report from the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and partner charity Ceasefire Center for Civilian Rights has stated.”
GregT on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 5:04 pm
“There are currently 3.2 million IDPs in Iraq, which is in the middle of a war with Islamic State”
Oorah! Mission Accomplished!
Apneaman on Wed, 13th Apr 2016 5:46 pm
Wildfires, Once Confined to a Season, Burn Earlier and Longer
“The first Alaska wildfire of 2016 broke out in late February, followed by a second there just eight days later.
New Mexico has had 140 fires this year, double the number in the same period last year, fueled by one of the warmest, driest winters on record.
And on the border of Arizona and California this month, helicopters dumped water on flames so intense that they jumped the Colorado River, forcing the evacuation of two recreational vehicle parks.
Fires, once largely confined to a single season, have become a continual threat in some places, burning earlier and later in the year, in the United States and abroad. They have ignited in the West during the winter and well into the fall, have arrived earlier than ever in Canada and have burned without interruption in Australia for almost 12 months.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/science/wildfires-season-global-warming.html?_r=0