Energy and overpopulation: Man

Climate change is not the most pressing issue facing mankind today. Hunting down the perpetrators of the greenhouse effect not only wastes time but focuses our attention on the wrong issues. We should instead be looking for new energy sources, new technologies and new means to manage population growth.

The importance of ensuring sufficient energy for the future is almost impossible to overestimate, because energy directly and indirectly affects the price of virtually everything in society. Energy is needed throughout the whole production chain; expensive energy simply means expensive products, food, medicines, pure water and services, and it is also likely to keep wages and salaries down.



Affordable and sustainable energy can allow us to maintain a fair standard of living for the whole of mankind, and thus allow us to focus on preserving our natural environment, biodiversity and even world peace. Massive population growth is the main reason for the exorbitant energy demand. The birth rate must be regulated, otherwise it will lead to further degradation of the environment and a worsening of problems in society, foiling all our other efforts.

Identifying sustainable energy sources seems to be the main problem. The ‘right choice’ is always easy to identify with hindsight, but it is possible to make more rational choices in advance too. For example, today we can easily say that companies investing ten years ago in cathode ray tube TVs or photographic film misdirected their investment in mature and obsolete technology. The wise companies identified the tremendous development potential of new LCD television monitors and digital photo sensors, and today they are reaping the rewards.

Accra Daily Mail