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twitterLetter to the editor:
The many dangers of overpopulation
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 | 2:02 a.m.
If Richard Ziser’s proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion in Nevada were to be passed here and similar initiatives were eventually adopted by other states and nations, it would be a disaster.
Given that Earth is finite in size, population growth will have to cease at some point. No power on Earth or in the heavens will permit continued population growth. The only questions are when and how population growth will cease.
Population growth is controlled at two points in the human life cycle. One is before birth — by artificial birth control and abortion. (Because even the best methods of birth control can sometimes fail, abortion must be available to all of humanity to prevent continued population growth.) The other is after birth — by war, starvation, murder and other horrors beyond anyone’s imagination.
If population continues to grow, humanity will exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth. Once humanity exceeds the carrying capacity of the Earth, wars and the other aforementioned horrors must happen as humanity fights over limited resources.
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Gee whiz, another letter writer who has jabbed at one of Mr. Gibbons' many pet peeves. Oh well, I'm sure you will read his assertion that no matter how many people the human race produces, we will never, ever, exceed the planets capability to sustain all of us. After all, the Lord said "GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY" (The Lord always talks in upper case). HE could just as easily said "ADD", but no, HE said "MULTIPLY".
I'm thinking Patrick has seen Soylent Green.
Hey Jason - why don't you get some self-control and keep things in your pocket instead.
"If population continues to grow, humanity will exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth."
Jason G. Brent how do you decide who lives and who dies?
Stan: You forgot the last part of that sentence. Genesis 1:28 "Multiply and fill the earth, then subdue it"!
Great article! Keep the power to control population at the lowest level - the individual man and woman. Do not impose some "religious morality" on the people! Educate everyone about how we need and impact the earth. People are already fleeing areas in the world where they cannot sustain themselves and they are migrating to the western world. It is already happening the growth rate is dropping every year and approaching zero across the world due to "natural selection" mostly (ie. war, disease, famine and pestilence). Do we want that for the USA, for Nevada, for Las Vegas?
Jason the wailer writes that he is concerned about overpopulation. Don't worry, Al Gore is writing a book on the subject and will have the cure to it all.
Overpopulation is just about the last item on my list of concerns. Before long we will be taxed to the point we won't be able to afford children...
Brent -- well put. But for balance you should have included what mankind does on a regular basis, thins the herd with wars, ethnic cleansing (Yugoslavia and Africa) or just plain ol' genocide (Europeans vs. this continent's first nations, christianity's general history).
Yes, Stan stupid ideas that have been debunked by scientists and economists but held up by the loony fringe do annoy me.
So long has we remain fairly capitalist and avoid socialism with price controls and government management of the economy, we will never have an overpopulated planet.
It would simply be too expensive. Nevertheless, the profit motive would continue to encourage people to figure out ways to innovate solutions to increase food production, habitats, and other ways to improve our standard of living.
Stan do you hate facts or something? Do you hate the fact that since zealots like yourself predicted world wide famine and global destruction we've increased the world's population 100% while at the same time drastically reducing the percentage of people living in poverty?
Do you hate that fact? Do you ignore that fact? Or do you just hate the idea that capitalism and free markets have been the tools to improve the human condition allowing more people to live better and live longer?
Millions of people are starving and dying from poverty related disease today. In terms of the tax issue federal tax rates were between 70 and 94% most of the last 80 years. The population has doubled in the US during that time period. Anyone who thinks population isn't a problem needs to go to LA and drive the freeways. Just kidding
My biggest concern is what kind of burrito I will have today.
Zip,
1) Poverty as a percentage of the world population has declined, despite rapidly rising growth rates
2) LA's traffic problems stem from one basic fact - they are VERY SLOW at building new highways.
3) That is the top marginal tax rate. You'll also noticed that since the top marginal tax rate has decreased America also has far more millionaires than ever before. We've also had a lot more innovation and more wealth created too.
We already have water and food shortage.
Wake up, people on the right. Pull your heads
out of your rear-ends.
As long as the Burrito Wagons are out there, we will be OK...
Just be watchful for Burrittobandit. He is in to burrito redistribution and will take half of yours if you are not careful.
I hear that the White House is going to appoint Burrittobandit as the Burrito Czar...
For Pat & Larry;
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/09...
Gmag, there are plenty of well educated people that get it completly wrong. One professor at the University of Texas already claims the world is over populated and that humans need their numbers reduced by 5 billion.
Another college professor went around trying to blow people up because he feared technology was destroying us.
So yes, there are plenty of nutty scientists who simply don't pay attention to the facts.
Its kind of hard to ignore the fact that we've been adding millions of people, the people are living longer, and living wealthier than ever before.
Ironically scientists who worry about overpopulation recomend
a) cutting back food production and b) cutting back energy production
They are trying to manufacture the crisis to stop human population growth. All you have to do is let the market work. Supply and demand. Think about it.
The author ignores the fact that a significant proportion of the population views abortion as murder, just as horrible as wars & starvation.
People, if provided the opportunity for better education & allowed suitable options early on, seem to choose to practice family planning, resulting in smaller families (consider Japan & Singapore). The US would probably be comparable, but we've elected to allow in large numbers of poorly educated immigrants as well as allow our educational standards to stagnate. Raise immigration and education standards, and I'd bet that even if abortion was banned, the US population would stabilize. Probably even start to decline after a while.
Overpopulation.. hmm who do we blame for this problem? The Catholic church which encourages their worldwide flock to have enormous families and excommunicates those who abort ? or the uneducated poor who don't know what birth control means? or the miracles of modern medicine which is keeping more people alive a lot longer than ever? which ever one you choose you should be glad you don't belong to the other side of this conversation or you wouldn't be here to read this...
Sorry, but I am not worried about overpopulation.
Because when the Obama Heath Care bill passes, senior citizens will be dying at younger ages due to lack of medical treatment for the elderly. Saves on Social Security also...
Despite Patrick's assurances to the contrary, the facts are that while the world may have the resources, they are in the hands of people who prefer to use their accumulated wealth on jet aircraft and pleasure yachts rather than feeding people they have never met. However, they do like to call themselves "Compassionate Conservatives".
In the Asian, African and Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called "absolute poverty"
Every year 15 million children die of hunger
Throughout the 1990's more than 100 million children died from illness and starvation. The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving- Since you started reading this at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.
One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5.
The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia together have approximately 40%, and the remaining hungry people are found in Latin America and other parts of the world.
Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity - live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people.
3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on $2/day.
One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.
Half of all children under five years of age in South Asia and one third of those in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished.
Malnutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths worldwide
The assets of the world's three (3) richest men are more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries on the planet.
Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger
Some 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition, about 100 times as many as those who actually die from it each year.
Thanks, StanG.
whaddya think of them apples, Pat?
Hey Lar, for an "independent thinker" you sure follow the neo-con party line down the the very end, dontcha? Of course, with your "newschannel" education, that's to be expected. Fox News & Rush, "opium for the masses."
Patrick, do you honestly believe over 6 billion people can live like the average person in the U.S.? Simple math says no. You're right about one thing: If everyone consumed resources like we do, there wouldn't be a population problem. There wouldn't be a population, period.
Again it just goes along the lines of birth control. Africa, the Indian subcontinent, South America, and anywhere else where there is hunger, all need birth control education and materials to avoid the tragic problems of starvation. China has the one child or 2 child limit which probably has made a huge difference, but anyone anywhere on this planet who is starving is a horrid thing and they in my prayers that they find good food to eat before every meal I am fortunate enough sit down to. It sickens me to see the waste that occurs here in our bountiful land. The problem of world hunger MUST be addressed starting at the level of birth control worldwide!
Anyone who doesn't think that the world is currently overpopulated and that the problem is not going to to get worse........has their heads in the sand.
Chances are the overpopulation crisis is not going to effect you during your life time, but it will effect your children and grandchildren.
It won't effect me or my children, why because I have chosen not to have any children. You have to be crazy to bring a child into todays world.
Have a nice day all you ostriches..........
Nobody noticed the most outrageous lie yet?
LarryVegas states that when Obama health care
passes, senior citizens will be dying at younger
ages due to lack of medical treatment for the
elderly.
This is the worst and lowest form of scare
tactic that I have heard yet. Truly a new
low for the right-wing.
Larry has no clue what he's talking about, never does.
His posts are baseless and laughable.
I wonder where he got those stats? they're a lie.
If our health care system is so freaking awesome and privatization supposedly improves the quality, why are we not in the top 10?
Privatization is a lie, clean and simple.
Other Countries have government run health care and they don't complain. Even Mexico has a private and government run system. Why can't we? Are we seriously that stupid? At least for me.
Here are three points why seniors will lose quality of medical care under Obama's health care:
1. Where do you think 500 billion in medicare cuts are coming from?
2. Where do you think 500 billion in medicare cuts are coming from?
3. Where do you think 500 billion in medicare cuts are coming from?
China began their 1 child policy through forced abortions and through birth control. Now it is more a matter of economics and frankly, it is easier to raise only 1 child.
(On a side note, their preference for a male child has created a shortage of females which will further reduce their population. All that testosterone and no release, look out!)
1 child policy did not apply to the farmers, only city folk. I think you can figure out the educational background of each.
Now, many of their educated people choose not to have any children at all. Japan and Russia have the same "problem". So the Chinese Gubment is encouraging city folks who want to have children, to have 2. Russia pays people to reproduce.
Take whatever approach you want, there are several, education, birth control or the current one, economic.
Dying for lack of money or resources is a terrible reason, be it starvation or lack of healthcare.
Abortion is evil. The Bible tells us to "be fruitful and multiply." And while most religious denominations see that overpopulation concerns and having children born to parents who want them are important, the Catholics, Muslims and Mormons want more souls to save for an eternal life in Paradise. While some may say that God gave us the capacity to reason and He gave us science as a major culmination of that gift, we should not believe those who specialize in environmental science and other related sciences. Some scientists wrongfully say that the arable land per person is rapidly diminishing. Some say that unloved children are populating our prisons and mental institutions, some will say that the increased populations and the use of energy fueled technology are responsible for severe climate change, some will say that we are running out of some natural resources, like fresh water, and that we are polluting our lands, seas and waterways with our wastes. But they are wrong. God will provide. Why should we be concerned with the facts enumerated on such websites as http://overpopulation.org or be alarmed by the evidence and proposals in the popular free ebook series "In Search of Utopia." (http://andgulliverreturns.info) Obviously more children born to parents who don't want them will give more jobs to prison employees and will give more opportunities to missionaries and preachers to grab those souls from the clutches of Satan.
ProfBob -- evil exists only in your mind and your dogma. Where another's liberties are concerned, your religion is irrelevant.
"After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands." -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Ecce Homo" 1888
Stan Gmag,
None of that has to do with overpopulation. The countries suffering from extreme poverty and hunger have very similar economies. Highly restrictive and highly controlled. Property rights are inconsistent or largely non existent for the working poor. This means no real functioning capitalist economy.
Overpopulation isn't the problem, bad government policies restricting the economy and property rights are the problem.
Singapore and Hong Kong have a higher population density than India. People aren't starving there in mass. They don't have large swaths of poor either. Neither place as the ability to even feed its own population - they have to import food.
South Korea, Taiwan and the Vatican City also have higher population densities than India.
In fact, DC, Rhode Island and New Jersey have population densities higher than India.
The problem has nothing to do with over population.
ProfBob said, "...we should not believe those who specialize in environmental science and other related sciences. Some scientists wrongfully say that the arable land per person is rapidly diminishing." What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Do you honestly believe there is infinite arable land? Take out a globe and study it awhile. You might be surprised that there is only a finite amount of land and that all of the arable land is being used. What, do you think we can grow crops in the desert?