Overpopulation is a myth

Janice - posted on 11/11/2011

I definitely believe the bigger issue is over consumption. I am 100% guilty of it. Unfortunately, I am like so many other Americans and I am able to pretend like it doesn't make a difference.



I think that its easy for some to say just have less children but its not that easy. I've always wanted 3-4 children. Even though I'm at the end of a miserable 2nd pregnancy, worried about how I will manage a newborn and toddler, I still feel very strongly about wanting a 3rd. Knowing the issues that face the planet do not suddenly make this feeling go away.

Teresa - posted on 11/11/2011

Having one child was never an option for me.... ;) lol

Having the 3rd was definitely a choice though. No sorry, no guilt, and no more....

I don't know about overpopulation or not though.

Minnie - posted on 11/11/2011

You know what I just learned? That the topsoil in the mid-western US used to be many yards deep. Now it's down to a few inches, all due to big agriculture. And that it would take hundreds of years to naturally build it up to that level again.

Sherri - posted on 11/10/2011

Sure I have no problem admitting that Johnny I will fully admit due to my own selfishness I could not possibly have only had one child and have ever been happy on this planet. So I definitely was selfish and have 3 currently with one more on the way. I will also never be sorry or feel guilty for this.

Johnny - posted on 11/10/2011

Unfortunately we can't detach North America from the globe and float away from the problem. We share the earth and we share the problem. Not only that but the amount a North American consumes and wastes makes up for at least 20 Indians. Especially our carbon output. If you want to over populate no one is outlawing it. Just have the honesty to admit you are making a bigger contribution to the suffering of the next generation than people who have one or none..

Sherri - posted on 11/10/2011

Yes may be but the US is not the problem, we really aren't even a blimp the problems are in......

Asia is the most-populated of Earth's continents, with its over 4 billion inhabitants accounting for over 60% of the world population. The world's two most-populated countries alone, China and India, constitute about 37 percent of the world's population. Africa is the second-most-populated continent, with around 1 billion people, or 15% of the world's population. Europe's 733 million people make up 11% of the world's population, while the Latin American and Caribbean regions are home to 589 million (9%). Northern America has a population of around 352 million (5%)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_popul...

Krista - posted on 11/10/2011

Sherri, if everything was balancing out, as you suggest, then population growth would be stable.

It's not.

Right now, they're projecting a world population in the range of 9 billion people by 2050. That's within our lifetimes. Right now, it's 7 billion. You think that another 2 billion people in the world won't put a strain on resources? On the amount of clean drinking water available?

With 2 billion more people, those people will need room to live and grow. The space that they take up is space that will have formerly been occupied by things like forests and wetlands and watersheds and arable land.

It's a vicious circle.

The more people, the more resources we use. But, the more people there are, the more room we take up, which leaves LESS room for those resources. So as our population grows, fewer and fewer of those vital resources are available, because we're crowding them out.

Sherri - posted on 11/10/2011

No I don't think we are overpopulated. Many people have large families where just as many have zero or one child.

I do think we need to change our lifestyles though.

Denikka - posted on 11/10/2011

I do agree that we could sustain our current population. There is no need for starvation. Resources are enough to sustain us at this point.
What is going wrong is the waste that we're producing. When food stores are throwing out something like 20%+ of the produce, that's just sickening. Not to mention how much we overuse and overeat.
So in that way, I agree. If we utilized our resources in a better way, we would not have the shortages we have (and that includes things like homeless people not having food etc.)

But I do think the world has too many people. Not because of current resource shortages, but for so many other reasons.

Minnie - posted on 11/10/2011

How are we able to support a population of seven billion? Through mass-mono crop agriculture. Mono cropping destroys naturally occuring perennial crops and ecosystems.



No other large mammal boasts a population like ours; it isn't sustainable in a natural and healthy way. No way could we sustain our population through hunting and gathering.



Yes. The earth is overpopulated with humans. It doesn't matter in the slightest regarding how much physical volume our bodies take up; we still have to take up massive amounts of extra space to keep those bodies running. And the waste that's created through those methods...

Isobel - posted on 11/10/2011

kay...I wasn't 100% sure before but now I know they're crazy.

Kellie - posted on 11/10/2011

Personally I think regardless of wether we're overpopulated or not we definitely DO need to change our lifestyles and we are absolutely over consuming and destroying our planet bit by bit.

Jane - posted on 11/09/2011

Yes and yes.

Maybe the entire world's population could fit into Jacksonville (I doubt it) but they sure couldn't get enough to eat or drink, and they probably wouldn't even have the space to scratch their own noses.