Population Policy

The U.S Census estimates that, on December 1, 2005, the population of the earth was 6,482,257,297. That is beyond my comprehension...almost 6.5 BILLION people on the planet. What would it take for every one of those people to have material goods and medical care equivalent to the average American? Well, I can't help but think that it would take more resources than this earth can provide. Americans consume far too much...and there are too many of us. But there are far more people in China...not just in absolute terms, but with regard to people per square kilometer; 140+ in China, 32+ in the USA.

What else would it take to give everyone on earth the same standard of living as we enjoy in the USA? It could take the utter destruction of the atmosphere, as choking polution poured from millions of automobiles and factories producing massive amounts of goods spew their detritus into the atmosphere.

The point I'm trying to make is that we (Americans, the 'first world' in general) have been and continue to be arrogant consumers who have no real interest in sharing the wealth and largesse of the earth with anyone else. And we are so arrogant that we insist that our superior technologies will allow us to quench the thirst for material goods as the rest of the earth catches up with us in consumerism. This, despite the fact that petroleum reserves are being depleted. This, despite the fact that scientists have been providing evidence of impending disaster for a long, long time. It's not just an American problem, though; virtually every society ignores the need to do two important things: 1) set population targets (and establish supporting policies) at levels that would encourage low population density and 2) reduce consumption (again, through policies that encourage convervation) of natural resources.

I predict several things will happen to address our overpopulation of the earth and the rape of the planet. I don't know when, but I feel certain they will occur. Several massive depopulation events will take place; they may be wars over access to products, pandemics, genocides, religious wars...there are plenty of possibilities. These massive depopulation events will result in dramatic disruptions to or complete elimination of the power grid in many places and consequently in the inability to make or transport products.

How would this come about? Well, let's take an example. If the current fears about the bird flu pandemic were to materialize, enormous numbers of people would begin dying. The population would begin to retreat from social interaction...they would not go to work, they would not allow people to come to their homes, etc. So, the people necessary to keep the telecommunications system operational would not be available...the people who keep the power grid operating would not be willing to risk their lives going to work...the power grid and communications infrastructure would go down. Fear and frustration would rise rapidly...there would be no place to get food, no electricity, the water pumping and purification systems would be inoperable. Social order would break down very, very rapidly; governmental authorities would be unable to communicate and people would feel abandoned by their governments. More death would occur from starvation, thirst, murder, etc.

Society as we know it would effectively come to a halt. Only the strong and imaginative would survive. And they would survive on less than we eat today...they would survive without many of the amenities we take for granted. The world might not return to the middle ages, but it would be far less sophisticated than we have come to enjoy in the first few years of the 21st century.

I wish I knew whether humankind would, as a result of its shakeout, learn lessons...like keeping populations at sustainable levels, like behaving like reasonable beings with regard to their levels of consumption, like doing whatever is necessary to establish political and economic and social structures that prevent the insanity that grips the world today. I wonder if these calamities would be viewed, yet again, as God's will or would people finally abandon the crutch of religion and rely on reason and humanity instead?

One thing I think is certain; the population of the earth, if there is any population left, would be far closer to a sustainable level than it is at today. Are there solutions to the overpopulation of the planet? At this stage in the evolution of humankind, I think the only solutions left are similar to the ones I described above. Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but I think it is far too late for any rational, humanitarian, responsible solution. We have just insisted as a species on ignoring the problem and, even more arrogantly, insisting that it isn't there.