Is the world overpopulated?

[BOLCATS]

It depends on what you believe is being threatened. Too many people? It appears the world population will level out at 11 billion by 2100. Too many poor? There is evidence the world is growing richer for everyone. There is even evidence the gap between rich and poor is narrowing in some countries.

What I foresee some people objecting to in this rosy scenario is the issue of ecology or "saving the planet". They will post charts showing how the vast majority of the planet surface is dedicated to providing for human beings with very little planet surface left to support a growing population. Yes, extinctions will continue to grow as mankind grows, but, as I pointed out, the population will eventually level out.

In order to support 11 billion people at $10 bucks a day for the vast majority, there needs to be a greater supply of cheap energy. I'm sorry, but renewables just don't cut it. You must have fossil fuels alongside nuclear and hydrogen. Wind and solar are costly and a drop in the bucket.

All the hysteria about global warming and the draconian cutbacks in fossil fuel use that its proponents demand will kill and impoverish
vastly more people than any "disasters" that "climate change" will ever bring about.

Much of my claims are found in the following film:
" The Overpopulation Myth" http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+over+population+myth&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=99A585D82076B7D7568899A585D82076B7D75688

 

[OCTOBER23]

YES,

Nostradamus predicted that when the 7 Billion population was at an end

and 8 Billion was reached circa 2024 , then men would come out of their Graves.

 

[Poly]

Anybody who believes the world is overpopulated should be made to drive all through the state of Oklahoma.....twice.

 

[musterion]

People who warn of overpopulation to the point of recommending "steps" be taken, never seem to consider themselves part of the problem.

 

[This Charming Manc]

true ......

People who warn of overpopulation to the point of recommending "steps" be taken, never seem to consider themselves part of the problem.

 

[Kdall]

It depends on what you believe is being threatened. Too many people? It appears the world population will level out at 11 billion by 2100. Too many poor? There is evidence the world is growing richer for everyone. There is even evidence the gap between rich and poor is narrowing in some countries.

What I foresee some people objecting to in this rosy scenario is the issue of ecology or "saving the planet". They will post charts showing how the vast majority of the planet surface is dedicated to providing for human beings with very little planet surface left to support a growing population. Yes, extinctions will continue to grow as mankind grows, but, as I pointed out, the population will eventually level out.

In order to support 11 billion people at $10 bucks a day for the vast majority, there needs to be a greater supply of cheap energy. I'm sorry, but renewables just don't cut it. You must have fossil fuels alongside nuclear and hydrogen. Wind and solar are costly and a drop in the bucket.

All the hysteria about global warming and the draconian cutbacks in fossil fuel use that its proponents demand will kill and impoverish
vastly more people than any "disasters" that "climate change" will ever bring about.

Much of my claims are found in the following film:
" The Overpopulation Myth" http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+over+population+myth&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=99A585D82076B7D7568899A585D82076B7D75688

I think at 9 billion it becomes more or less impossible to feed everyone

 

[shagster01]

Anybody who believes the world is overpopulated should be made to drive all through the state of Oklahoma.....twice.

I see farmland needed to grow food when I drive through OK.

 

[BOLCATS]

I think at 9 billion it becomes more or less impossible to feed everyone

That number was even lower in the past and has been shown to be false. The people dying from starvation today dont do so because there is no food available.

 

[BOLCATS]

I see farmland needed to grow food when I drive through OK.

Yes, and that farmland feeds more people than it used to.

 

[shagster01]

Yes, and that farmland feeds more people than it used to.

Thank you chemicals!

 

[musterion]

The sweet corn and tomatoes we've enjoyed for decades are technically GMO. Just sayin'.

 

[TracerBullet]

the population the earth can support depends on what level of resource consumption people are willing to live at.

About half of the world's current population lives on less than $2 dollars per day. One out of four of these consume less than 80% of the daily minimum calorie requirements - meaning they are technically starving.

As the population increases the necessity of more people living at that level increases. It is possible the earth to sustain a population of 10 billion human beings but to do so the entire population has to live at the $2 dollars per day level.

 

[musterion]

the population the earth can support depends on what level of resource consumption people are willing to live at.

About half of the world's current population lives on less than $2 dollars per day. One out of four of these consume less than 80% of the daily minimum calorie requirements - meaning they are technically starving.

As the population increases the necessity of more people living at that level increases. It is possible the earth to sustain a population of 10 billion human beings but to do so the entire population has to live at the $2 dollars per day level.

I bet you're fat.

 

[PureX]

The problem isn't our numbers, it's our behavior. As long as we continue to presume that we can exploit the world we live within for our own gain, without consequence, we will inevitably destroy ourselves, and probably sooner rather than later. Because we cannot leave this planet when our abuse of it reaches the tipping point, and the ecosystem catastrophically fails.

Should a life form that's so stupid and greedy that it can't even bother controlling it's impact on it's own life-sustaining environment be allowed to exist? Perhaps God has written his answer to that question into the fabric of creation, itself, and when our selfish arrogance goes on long enough, we will trigger our own judgement … and ultimate demise.

 

[BOLCATS]

The problem isn't our numbers, it's our behavior. As long as we continue to presume that we can exploit the world we live within for our own gain, without consequence, we will inevitably destroy ourselves, and probably sooner rather than later. Because we cannot leave this planet when our abuse of it reaches the tipping point, and the ecosystem catastrophically fails.

Should a life form that's so stupid and greedy that it can't even bother controlling it's impact on it's own life-sustaining environment be allowed to exist? Perhaps God has written his answer to that question into the fabric of creation, itself, and when our selfish arrogance goes on long enough, we will trigger our own judgement … and ultimate demise.

What is wrong with exploitation if no harm is done to anyone? Unfairness or inequality is not harm. Harm to the environment is not bad as long as it is repairable and thus sustainable.

Man and all life impacts its environment. I don't see how living with less diversity is a bad thing. To achieve pre -holocene diversity, you would have to reduce population to less than 10 million.

 

[TracerBullet]

I bet you're fat.

and you would loose that bet

 

[TracerBullet]

What is wrong with exploitation if no harm is done to anyone? Unfairness or inequality is not harm. Harm to the environment is not bad as long as it is repairable and thus sustainable.

Man and all life impacts its environment. I don't see how living with less diversity is a bad thing. To achieve pre -holocene diversity, you would have to reduce population to less than 10 million.

it's not sustainable. we are depleting forests 25% faster than we can replenish them. Ocean fisheries are being depleated 30% faster than they can recover.

 

[rexlunae]

Anybody who believes the world is overpopulated should be made to drive all through the state of Oklahoma.....twice.

What's Oklahoma's immigration policy like? Do they allow anyone in freely, no questions asked?

What do you count as overpopulated? We haven't yet figured out how to sustain everyone on the planet sustainably. Seems like until we have a path to doing that, it's hard to say that we aren't overpopulated. No one would argue that there isn't physically space if you stack everyone up.

 

[The Berean]

the population the earth can support depends on what level of resource consumption people are willing to live at.

About half of the world's current population lives on less than $2 dollars per day. One out of four of these consume less than 80% of the daily minimum calorie requirements - meaning they are technically starving.

As the population increases the necessity of more people living at that level increases. It is possible the earth to sustain a population of 10 billion human beings but to do so the entire population has to live at the $2 dollars per day level.

And nations like China and India (who have about 36.4% of the world's population) are growing economically. The US has 809 cars per 1,000 people (2011). China has 101 cars per 1,000 people (2013) and India has 18 cars per 1,000 people (2011). Can you image the environmental impact and raw materials required if China and India tried to matched the US? :noway:

 

[PureX]

What is wrong with exploitation if no harm is done to anyone? Unfairness or inequality is not harm.

There is no such condition as harmless exploitation. Every action has a consequence. And when that action is exploitive, the consequence is harmful to that which is being exploited. When we pump fossil fuels out of the ground and burn them for energy, we spill it all over the ground and in the water, where it does great harm, and we pump the leftover toxins into the air where it does even more harm, there. Yet we pretend that there will be no consequences for this exploitation and damage even though we are already suffering from those consequences, ourselves. How can we be that stupid and greedy? It's insane, really, when you think about it. And our life-sustaining environment will only absorb our abuse so long. Then it will collapse, because it is a complex inter-related system, and when one crucial part of that system finally fails, it will cause a cascade of failures, and life as we know it will cease to be sustainable on this planet.

Harm to the environment is not bad as long as it is repairable and thus sustainable.

Where are you seeing this harm being "repaired"? I grew up on the Great Lakes, and am old enough to remember when the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire because it was so polluted. It's better now, but all the toxins we pumped into that river, and into the Lake Erie are still there, laying on the bottom, under a layer of mud and silt. And all it would take is some disturbance to stir it all back up and mix it into the water, again. It's also in the fish that live in the lake.

My point is this stuff doesn't go away, like some magic trick. It just falls out of sight and out of mind, until we stir it up, again. And it is accumulating, year after year, decade after decade. And it has been for several centuries since the industrial revolution, when man learned how to exploit and pollute the environment on a industrial, global scale. And has been doing it ever since.

Man and all life impacts its environment. I don't see how living with less diversity is a bad thing. To achieve pre -holocene diversity, you would have to reduce population to less than 10 million.

Using our ignorance to justify our exploitive and destructive behavior is exactly why we will destroy ourselves soon enough. We are so fundamentally selfish that we are literally insane. We will lie to ourselves even as we lay dying in our own filth. We are doing this even now without realizing it.