Population Control

The issue of population control is a controversial topic.  On one hand it is argued that the population growth is causing most of the earth’s major problems and on the other hand controlling population is not only an implausible solution which would most likely lead to an array of social injustices and insurgencies- it’s not really addressing the root of the issue at hand.   I believe that although a reduction of population may help some of the earth’s major problems, the real remedy to the solution would be reinventing our consumption patterns and lifestyle of the western world. 

For both the developing world and the developed nations, pollution plagues us both.  Generally speaking, an increase in population only adds to the amount of waste we generate.  This pollution infiltrates our soils, pushing us to seek out pristine places to relocate our farms and homes.  The pollution also flows into our rivers and streams, making us dependent on water bottle companies in many parts of the world.  We cannot forget about the pollution in our oceans which has been creating dead zones and toxic fish.  An increase in our population has not aided in these matters. 

It is true that the more people born into developed nations will contribute more to greenhouse gas emissions.  This is true because people in developed countries have more access to cars and other forms of polluting transportation systems, and not to discount all the food and other needs they acquire from stores which have thousands of transportation miles behind each item- not to mention the polluting factories who have created the items as well as the natural environment destroyed in the creation of the product.  It is also true that the more people being born into developing countries can fuel the deforestation dilemmas, as the population continues to grow and farmers will need more land to grow more food for more people.  However what is often not stated, is that these farmers are typically growing soy, corn or wheat for the feed of cows and chickens for factory farms in industrialized nations for the consumption of industrialized people.  Meat is expensive and is often not eaten much in developing countries.  Cows eat much more than humans do.  According to the USDA, cows on average eat 75-100 lbs a day, while people on average eat only 4-5 lbs daily. Translation, the consumption of meat is a bigger destruction of the rainforest then additional children who only eat plant based foods.  (http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter1.htm)

                Of course population plays a big role in the destruction of many natural systems.  However, the bigger culprit I see is the mentality of the western world.  That mentality focuses on financial security in the short term.  Healthy rivers, oceans and forests give us financial security in the long term if we choose to live from them in a sustainable manner.  However, our current system is to harvest all we can attain from every forest, mountain and water body, and whatever is left from our pillage we decide to construct concrete buildings and homes in its place.  Of course with every person added to this picture with this mentality, only means more destruction, but as it is controlling the population in every country could be a more difficult task than changing our mindsets- which is actually the root of the issue. 

There are circumstances where children add very little to the environmental problems of the world, as mentioned earlier.  First, is when a child is born into a sustainable community where he/she gets all of her food organic and produced locally and all other needs met by artisans within the community.  Second is when the child is born in an impoverished community where the child must mostly live off of collecting garbage scraps for creating homes, and eating left over food found on the streets.  In other words they are living in wastelands and from wastelands, wastelands created by the modern way of living.  Unfortunately the second scenario may be more common than we may all think as actually 2/3 of the world’s population goes to bed hungry every night.  That means 2/3 of the world’s population doesn’t have access to regular meals.  And 1 billion people worldwide lack adequate housing.  Many people are just trying to get through each day as it comes, 2/3 of the world’s population may only be driven to produce their next meal. 

But none-the-less if population really is the height of all of our problems, could the number of children per family really be enforced worldwide? How would governments control it?  Would they heavily tax families with more children?  What if the families had no money?  Would they arrest the family, would they execute them?  How would we ensure that it’s a fair and honorable system of population control?  How would every country afford to imprison every person who had more kids then they were supposed to?    Perhaps even if population can’t be regulated, education would be the next best thing in terms of population control.  Yes, education on population and global resources should be a mandatory subject in schools and for those who have no access to school, it would be beneficial to create NGO’s specifically to help those underdeveloped societies by educating them about sustainable resource management (that is for those who may be farmers, cutting down the rainforest).  

And of course education is important for everyone to some extent, but, again, I feel we are tip-toeing around the real issue as if it’s a plague.  We live out of balance with nature.  We live completely incongruent with the laws of the earth.  And the impoverished societies in contrary to our modern mind-sets really have little to do with it.  They look up to us; they look up to the ‘modern’ world for solutions.  In reality, it’s only the wealthy who own pristine areas; it’s only the powerful who have access to beautiful land.   We have been deciding its fate for centuries.  The poor follow the rich.  The rich move on to cleaner pastures and the poor have to make do with the destruction.  

                In conclusion, I believe that we should try and do as much as we can, in whatever form possible to get the message across.  In the countries that can afford education, should educate!  But we should educate much more than just on how population is destroying everything.  We should focus on educating on solutions such as natural buildings, organic farming, food forests, living off of natural landscapes- promoting natural systems-only taking enough for one’s need, sustainable communities as well as respect for natural systems.  Curbing population, especially in developing countries where most don’t even have access to schools, is an unrealistic and mostly unhelpful idea not addressing the real issue at hand.  We need more education and innovative thinking as well as technology to help us create livelihoods without having to destroy the earth in the process.