Global Warming aside for a moment, Does anyone agree that overpopulation by HUMANS might be a problem? Why?

Question

I never hear about overpopulation anymore. I wonder why? If we do find ways to produce energy without oil...(HHO Gas, Fusion, Magnetic Repulsion motors etc) ...does that mean its ok for the population to reach 16 BILLION people? Are we doing this in case a super virus comes along so that there will be enouugh of us left afterwards? I dunno...it's an un addressed problem. I wish there was a whole continent left alone just for the animals.

Answer 1

I totally agree, but you know how humans are, they will never admit when they are wrong.   God Bless.

Answer 2

hio........this is absolutely correct and one of the factors that must be given a serious thought...the population is growing at a geometrical progressive rate whwre as the resources are only decresing or increasing at a slow aerthmatic progressive arte........depletion of naturalresources,deforestation,pollution and a lt more are the result of population incresing day by day.

Answer 3

duh... BUWAHAHHA

Answer 4

Yes, of course this is a problem.  Uses more resources, more stress on the environment, more conflict and competition for everything, more hosts and chances for  disease outbreaks, etc.  This has long be recognized and the birth rate in many developed countries has decreased over the past few decades.  Many developing countries still require a lot more people to do the work needed to survive.  There are still a lot of customs and traditions that encourage having lots of children too. I think the Earths population is closer to 6 billion rather than 16,  but the increase since 1900 has been phenomenal.

There is no easy solution - people without enough food and water will succumb to starvation, dehydration, and disease.  As you suggest,  this exacerbates or is the underlying root to many problems.  Solutions are not easy.  We can't just let people die or force what we believe is a solution (from our perspective) on them.  Changes  takes generations to achieve and must come from within the society to be acceptable.

Its very similar to raising cattle.  If you have enough land, the cattle will not destroy the field by over-grazing and compact the soil so much the trees in the field die.  Keep building the herd and soon you have to truck in feed, the pasture requires a lot of work to keep the grass growing, and the trees in the field start dying because of soil compaction.

It takes a certain quantity and quality of different ecosystem types strategically placed to provide for peoples needs.  The number of people supported is called carrying capacity.  It can be raised some by cooperation between different populations.  This is accomplished through trade, education and technology.  It relies on politics probably more than science in some cases, but it is why science is such an important part of our national infrastructure.

Answer 5

Currently the population density is 1 person per 5 acres of land.  That's less dense then the population of New Jersey.

The planet could easily hold 3 times the number of people we have on the planet today.

Answer 6

Looks like you have a beautiful little girl.  Aren't you glad no one told you you weren't "allowed" to have her due to population control?

Answer 7

Yes

China is about the only country that is trying to control it's population by encouraging 1 child families. If you have more than 1 child you lose any government help, are financially discriminated against and shunned.

Their population will, in years to come, be reduced due to natural attrition. It's just a pity that their girls are in orphanages or abandoned in favour of having boys to provide a better future income for the family.

Cheers

Answer 8

Some countries cannot afford to stop having children.

People grow old and there is a dependency on the younger generation to take care of them.  Without a strong tax base how can social security even be possible in America?

Additionally in matters of war it pays to have the larger population.  In history some countries rather conquer another rather then control the population and coexist peacefully or have a population reduction and risk conquest by another.

In terms of culture and society it also pays to have numerical superiority since over time the more populous culture has a greater chance of passing on their value system.  Thats why many religions encourage their followers to be fruitful and multiply.

When selfishness ends (or when we finally break the camels back) one should see the beginnings of population control.

Answer 9

It sure has a chain of effects which are all interrelated and heavily tax the system

People use and need land,so more and more is being changed to accommodate human growth and development

The necessary flora ,which permits life as we know it, is disappearing.

Eco-systems are being exchanged for desserts , concrete or roads.

World population has doubled in the last 50 years exceeding the growth of 4 million years (since we became homo Sapiens).

To satisfy the growing demand farmers are cultivating unstable lands , too steep or dry to be sustainable.

Mono cultures ,aided by chemicals Exhaust and pollutes the soil .

Adding to this the effects of overgrazing has resulted in large scale desertification.

Each year billions of tons of topsoil are blown or washed away by storms.

Over the last half century,

Population growth & rising incomes have tripled world grain demand from 640 million tons to 1,855 million

In the near future the global farming community will not be able to feed every body ,food prices will continue to rise.

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NATURES POINT OF VIEW

In Nature exists such a thing as the law of Harmony and Equilibrium

Animals have lots of young when there is plenty of food ,and have little or none when the conditions are bad

when there is a plague of rabbits ,many foxes are born,

when there is no game lions ,and other predators have few cubs.

plants do roughly the same

All follow the LAW OF NATURE OF EQUILIBRIUM

everybody is welcome ,but nobody in excess.

we must co-exist on this planet and limit our numbers to our resources

All of Nature obeys these LAWS,but Humans put themselves above the LAW,and have bred themselves into a plague

It is a miracle that Nature has allowed us to get this far.

Everything else is set upon by plagues ,disease or predators ,when they exceed their allotted quantity,or there are Natural disasters .

There are two moments in the existence of a specie when extinction is likely,

when there are two few

And when there are too many.

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PEOPLE

However population control has always been a very sensitive issue Because people get get very nervous when you go below the belt

Mans sexuality and very often how many kids hes got is proof of his masculinity and insurance for old age

with many possible incomes to assist him when he himself cannot work any more

the second point is HOW do we ethically control populations

poor areas with less education DEMONSTRATE THE HIGHEST NUMBERS OF TEEN AGE PREGNANCIES,

educated women have less children

But uneducated populations are more religious and more resistant to birth control.

to forcibly control populations is frowned upon to say the least

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Population control in the past and present

at a meeting in Kopenhagen in 1998 it was suggested to bring the world population down by 60%,one cannot help but wonder at how this would be archieved

War (past .present and future)

Natures way disease(today,past and future)

Manufactured disease(suspected today)

cures that kill(suspected today)

poisoned consumer goods (suspected today)

making children infertile or g*y,by raising the PH level in drinking water or even drinks (suspected today)

birth control,

Some Native peoples have always been aware of this

to limit the tribes number to as many as the tribe can afford to feed

in the past the Olmecs women ate yams to make them infertile,

Amazonian tribes have strict sexual rites that limit copulation in the conventional way.

And there were central Americans who sacrificed their excess children to the Gods

Today we have several methods but most reach only the educated ,i handed out condoms to an native Mazatecca comunity in Oaxaca ,and the church retrieved them all )

education on birth control(not enough,again the poor regions are excluded )

there are the strong methods such as in China with laws that limit childbirth per family.

Also a horrible concept.

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In the Netherlands after the war families were encouraged

to have few children because it is such a small country

not much bigger than Mexico city,

so it was physically impossible to fit a lot of people into the country ,There people can understand the concept of birth control,

But in larger countries many think of the family ,not the society as a whole

what happens if the country is full

wage war and kill everybody in another place to invade and settle there ,that would be the natural solution

In the past conquering countries encouraged the people to have many kids to be used as cannon fodder

or settling farmers needed many sons to provide labor,

one would have thought that we had progressed from that

But judging by many peoples reactions, many still cling to the old self centered or invasive philosophies

Answer 10

There are definitely too many people...trying to dictate my life.  Before modern medicine, the death rate of children, coupled with pandemics and war, kept the population in check through methods harmonious with nature.  Nature will overcome man's folly soon enough...just look at the new super-bugs resistant to medicine.  In the meantime, we can always go to war over population control...

Try driving across the U.S. to see just how much room we have.

Answer 11

d**n right it has been especially from Late 60's when the oil was cheap and plentiful American people were too spoiled and didn't conserve and live like they didn't care about anyone except themselves now we are paying for it. The fanatic born-agains aren't helping the problem with their big families either but the polititions want their votes so were screwed.

Born in the U.S.A.

Answer 12

Don't worry war and disease will take care of it