Overconsumption (more an issue than overpopulation)
A few hundred years ago, there were not even a billion people on earth. But today the population grows by around 83 million year, and by 2050, we will have almost 10 billion people on the planet.
The UK now has around 67 million people (London has over 8 million people).
And by 2025, it’s expected for us to be the second largest country in Europe. It’s already the most overcrowded (way more than say New Zealand, which is one of the least overcrowded nations in the world).
Apart from two years since 1955, the number of births has been higher than the number of deaths (though health care funding is not on a par with the level needed to prevent ‘preventable deaths’ for many diseases).
And the average birth rate of (just under 2 births) per woman is not expected to decrease any time soon.
Another scary policy for many countries (and approved by many right-wing MPs) is ‘pronatalism’. This is why everyone is encouraged to ‘marry and have families for the good of society’.
As if being a ‘childfree cat lady’ is not something of worth, and of course it gives rise to societies full of prejudice for anyone who is childless, gay or an immigrant.
In fact, the ‘solutions to overpopulation’ are far simpler and more intelligent than that. A blend of:
- Natural safe contraception (including abroad).
- Education (to help reduce unwanted pregnancies)
- Adopting children who need loving homes
- Having smaller families that consume less resources
It’s western consumers (often at the expense of poor people abroad) that are killing the planet. 25% or so of the world is now under 15 years old, so it’s vital to educate on how to live simply for the 90% of young people who live in developing countries – most at risk from floods, droughts and other catastrophes from a warming planet.
Then we have the arguments for and again voluntary euthanasia along with religion banning contraception (and the ethical/moral issue of abortion).
How Overpopulation Impacts Wildlife
Due to humans driving cars using up resources, polluting the earth and oceans and leaving litter everywhere (along with climate change and hunting/poaching), the UK now faces 25% of all its native mammals facing extinction.
Preventing Unwanted Pregnancies
England’s teen births rate is the highest in Europe, often due to a culture more concerned with celebrity and sex, over education and making a difference.
Abortion is not the answer (on any level), what we need is to be like Scandinavian countries and remove the stigma and organised religion around ‘awkward talks’. The Nordic countries not only have the lowest rates of teen pregnancies, but the highest happiness rates.
The Real Issue is Overconsumption
Governments remain antiquated in their ideas, and some now resort to criticising immigrants (our country would likely fall apart without them, as they make up the backbone of the NHS and other caring professions).
Most population growth is in just 9 countries: India, Nigeria (growing the most), Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo and USA. Nearly all the world’s people live in Asia and Africa, but they tend to live more simply.
The issue is not really overpopulation, but overconsumption. There’s nothing wrong with a devout Catholic family sprouting 8 children.
What is the problem is a family having one child that demands factory-farmed fast food, iPads and iPods, designer trainers shipped in from Asia, palm-oil-laden peanut butter and being ferried around by car.
On a planetary level, the average person in the UK uses 11 times more resources than someone in Nigeria. So a lot of the issue is how we live, not how many people.
One western child often has a far higher carbon footprint than 8 Chinese ones! In just 2 weeks, the average person in England emits as much carbon as a person in Mali does for a year.
GDP is More an Issue Than Immigration
What also does not help is GDP (Gross Domestic Product). This is the barometer used by main political parties (including Labour and the Lib Dems) to measure ‘economic growth’. Which means to buy stuff to throw away.
So this means keeping people sick (hospitals), dangerous (prisons) and polluted (cleaning up oil spills) are all ‘good’ because they create jobs and income. This is bonkers.
The way for society to flourish is to use alternative indexes like Alberta’s ‘Happiness Index’ (created by Canadian economist Mark Anielski). With his model, it’s better to keep people well and safe (so less hospitals and prisons are needed), and build parks and restore nature so people have better physical and mental health, and less money is needed to live.
