…about overpopulation? Why is this topic taboo? This is at the root of all environmental problems—and why migrants have nowhere left to go. The earth does not need 8 billion homo sapiens. Read The Limits to Growth (1968), a bestseller, and start a conversation with someone about overpopulation.
—Doin’ my bit (there’s just me)
This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2019.
This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch. Great Read. #JustSayin
There’s nothing you can do.
Your “migrants” statement is false.
It’s taboo because it goes against the societal norm of pumping out a bunch of brats before we die, to leave a legacy or carry on some part of yourself (as if anybody would seriously remember us through our children). It always amazes me that the world latches onto silly crap like banning plastic drinking straws and bags, yet having a billion kids is fine, as if they won’t grow up driving cars, demanding food production and contributing to a massive carbon footprint. Another problem is that access to contraceptives, legal abortions, voluntary sterilization and adoption are all very complicated or non-existent depending on your country of residence. It’s easier to get pregnant and have a kid than it is to have responsible and safe sex when you’re not ready for kids or have no desire for kids.
According to demographers the world’s population will peak by 2040 or so and then start to decline. The main reason is decreasing birth rates due to urbanization. On the farm children are cheap labour and an asset, in the city they are an expense. The replacement rate in most western countries is around 2.1 births per female but, in Canada for example, the birth rate is around 1.5 per female. What this means for Canada, and other industrialized countries, is that without immigration the population would be in decline and aging rapidly.