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Page added on June 15, 2015

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Ethical Population Control

Ethical Population Control thumbnail

No one wants to talk about population control, but we already consume more resources than the planet can sustain. As we approach 9 billion people there are ethical and humane solutions to this controversial problem.

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In 1804 there were 1 billion people on the planet, around 200 years later there is 7 billion; and in just 30 years we expect to have 9 billion. In the coming years Asia and Africa are expected to see the most population growth with the other continents following suit, with the exception of Europe, which according to some projections could see a slight decline. However overall the world’s population is increasing at faster rates year on year.

WHAT: Resources are limited and as populations increase the planets ability to ‘recycle’ our waste and sustain the amount of resources we use decreases. In fact as it stands at our current scale of resource consumption is far greater than the planet can cope with. This means our population needs to decrease it, to become sustainable so the earth can cope with the amount of natural resources we use.

7-billion-people_5029153a9a6a4

Population control has been tried in countries such as China and India with mixed results. China’s ‘One Child’ policy has led to a number of social problems, where there were instances of forced abortions due to unauthorised pregnancies. In China it has led to many infanticides as Chinese families want boys to carry on the family name. In India there has been a number of programmes since the 1950s, including incentives for sterilization and only families with 2 or fewer children are eligible for election at local government.

HOW: The organisation Population Matters aims to provide ethical solutions to over population and envisions a future where our population is sustainable and the environment is able to recover from the resource pressures we put upon it. Their solutions to overpopulation are simple but effective:

  • Population Awareness: Education that makes people aware of the pressures over population will to enable greater understanding of the need to change.
  • Family Planning: Promoting the use of family planning methods like contraception and increasing women’s rights across the world enables people to prevent unwanted pregnancies and fully consider if they are able to support a child.
  • Environmental Conservation: Making people aware that there is a direct link between overpopulation and the natural environment. Getting the public to understand that more people requires more resources. This will help strengthen the case for more considered/mindful consumption, and make people more susceptible to change.
  • Sustainable Lifestyles: If we can live our lives with little impact upon our environment through technology, behaviour change and mindful consumption then it will help ease the amount of resources we need.

Population control should be something we all should be talking about. We have the means to make ethical and mindful choices about the resource we need from our environment, and without a considered approach to consumption then world’s resources will run out.

a changing climate



40 Comments on "Ethical Population Control"

  1. zoidberg on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 8:07 am 

    Cue the agenda 21 apologists to clamour for mass murder and tyranny 3 2 1…..

  2. Davy on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 8:40 am 

    They need a post-scrip saying economic collapse from a collapsed financial system and the depleting foundational commodity oil will reduce population to 1BIL within a generation.

    Since nothing can be done that will be effective especially the touted ideas in this article we need to have adjustment and mitigation policies for an excess deaths over births on average of 200MIL a year. How this die off unfolds will depend on those adaption and mitigation policies.

    Of course we can make it quick and easy going directly to Zoid’s agenda 21 mass death caused by our wonderful killing technologies. IMA killing technologies that will finally be able to be used to their full effectiveness not just advertised and talked about.

  3. zoidberg on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 8:59 am 

    Hmph. Put the guns down disband the militaries and use the resources saved to house and feed the masses. Then use the mil industrial complex workers to conquer space and colonize the ocean.

    Lastly making children hugely expensive economic burdens is a highly effective way to reduce birthrate. Day care is ruinoisly expensive at least in Canada. 100 bucks a month is about 3 days child care.

    Also watching my childless sister and husband go one vacations and buy toys all the time is highly annoying. Still its a Labour of love for me but many others dont feel the same way.

  4. Don on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 9:05 am 

    The time has come, execute Order 66.

  5. Davy on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 9:11 am 

    Good luck with those ideas Zoid. What will work is just what we are doing now and that is nothing. Isn’t that fair and ethical? No one can say nature is not fair, balanced, and impartial.

    Humans have proven they are not capable of population control except certain pre-industrial times with certain cultures. Nature has shown competence with population control of all species.

    Now to be fair locals can engage in rational efforts but above that it is a joke and just another example of rape and pillage of the commons.

  6. Kenz300 on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 9:12 am 

    If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child.

    Birth control methods fact sheet | womenshealth.gov

    http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/birth-control-methods.html

  7. zoidberg on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 9:41 am 

    I like the idea of maximizing population through investment into expanding the commons. I think people are considering the problem backwards. It’s not how to we get humanity to committ suicide but how to preserve and expand what we have.

    We have to try. If it fails and chaos erupts then we shall have to see what types of people come through the other side. Optimistic builders or pessimist quitters? It is said in a survival situation your state of mind can be the deciding factor. Is your head screwed on straight?

  8. zoidberg on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 9:45 am 

    Planned parenthood is a racist organization aimed at aborting black babies although they are happy to help any baby die.

    Eugenics and genocide is also an undertone in population control discussions. Profound evil is being attached to this topic. Be careful my friends.

  9. penury on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 9:57 am 

    I remember a Sci fi story 60 years ago which had an alien contact. The aliens had a message “control your population, or it will be controlled for you” of course being human neither was allowed. Control of population prior to conception appears to be impossible. Control of population after birth id repugnent. So we will opt for the population control measures we have used for centuries. WAR more WAR we are invincible and only the others will die. It has always been thus and will continue. Starvation is of course the other preferred method.

  10. yellowcanoe on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 10:20 am 

    War isn’t an effective way to reduce population. The world population actually increased during WWII despite a death toll between 45 million and 60 million.

  11. Rodster on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 11:05 am 

    Part of the population problem is that we are living much longer and that adds to the problem all made possible by cheap oil.

    The other problem is that if you reduce the population you collapse the system and future debt is no longer assured of being serviced. The Banks run the economies around the world and their greed, control and lust for power stand in the way of any changes being made until it’s too late.

  12. Plantagenet on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 11:05 am 

    Human populations will grow until they outstrip the food supply, just as seen in animal populations…..

  13. BC on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 11:12 am 

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069530/

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/?ref_=nv_sr_1

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/?ref_=nv_sr_1

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070531/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

    These films’ plots are more relevant today than four decades ago.

    http://www.worldvasectomyday.org/

    Tell a friend: Get snipped today!

  14. Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 11:23 am 

    Sex obsessed apes will never stop fucking and shitting out little apes to carry on the tradition of cancer. Evolution selects for hornyness and thus overpopulation. Drought leading to famine leading to disease is the quickest population reducer of all. We have already laid the groundwork for that on an unprecedented scale. At first when it starts, we will have all sorts of donation drives, benefit concerts and government aid to help the poor starving folks out, but after only awhile our short dopamine craving 21st century attention spans will move on to our chosen electronic distractions of celebrity of the day, sports, political theater, porn, video games, dooming, endless food and home improvement shows, etc – anything but actually dealing. It will just be another Oh dear moment. Eventually, it will get to the point where the refugee swarm is so thick the military starts killing them and the rest of us will be grateful for it; some cheering, some silent – better them than us if only for awhile.

  15. Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 11:31 am 

    Climate Change Will Make ISIS Look Like Amateurs

    http://therationalpessimist.com/2015/06/14/climate-change-will-make-isis-look-like-amateurs/

  16. Apneaman on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 11:56 am 

    The latest global temperature data are breaking records

    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/jun/15/the-latest-global-temperature-data-are-breaking-records

  17. HARM on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 12:31 pm 

    “Cue the agenda 21 apologists to clamour for mass murder and tyranny 3 2 1…”

    What is “agenda 21”, and who exactly is “clamoring” for mass murder and tyranny?

    Sorry, but I don’t hang out at NewsMax, Alex Jones or David Icke, so I’m not sure what paranoid conspiracy theory Zoidberg is peddling here.

  18. HARM on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 12:39 pm 

    “Planned parenthood is a racist organization aimed at aborting black babies although they are happy to help any baby die.”

    Yup, lots of anti-black racism in PP’s executive circle. You can see it right here:

    http://tinyurl.com/pw6pw5y
    http://tinyurl.com/nw6jhwt
    http://tinyurl.com/p7gzn23
    http://tinyurl.com/nqfrx5u

  19. HARM on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 12:43 pm 

    “Eugenics and genocide is also an undertone in population control discussions. Profound evil is being attached to this topic. Be careful my friends.”

    The only ones injecting eugenics or genocide into discussions on overpopulation is people like YOU, Zoidberg. Mainly to fear-monger and change the subject to paranoid conspiracy theories.

    This is why we can’t have adult debates about overpopulation.

  20. Perk Earl on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 1:09 pm 

    Not only is there no attempt to control population, there’s no plan to even attempt it. In fact, there was an article out recently that confirmed the highest status right now is having kids. Ads on TV try to attach a good parent child relationship to their products even though there is no actual connection, but I guess it must have proven to sell more product.

    The only way population will be stabilized or reduced is by forces beyond human control.

  21. Steve Challis on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 3:28 pm 

    Many countries have very vigorous population control; the governments are attempting to increase the population.
    Simply removing the incentives and pressure to have more children would reduce the birth rate in most developed countries.
    Even in poor countries with a very high birthrate changes in things like female education and access to contraception can greatly reduce birthrate.

  22. HARM on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 4:33 pm 

    “Many countries have very vigorous population control; the governments are attempting to increase the population.”

    Xactly. Which is why “birth dearther” fears of falling (LOL) birthrates are so absurd. Even in the U.S., we actively subsidize childbirth via the tax code and social programs. In Italy they are even offering to pay new mothers a monthly stipend.
    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/10/20/3581736/italy-baby-bonus/

  23. Rodster on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 5:40 pm 

    “Many countries have very vigorous population control; the governments are attempting to increase the population.”

    Of course and they have too. If they don’t future debt doesn’t get paid, the economies go into a deflation freefall because there’s no one to absorb demand for consumtion which includes cars, homes, insurance, medical bill etc. The system withers and dies/collapses. The Banksters won’t allow that to happen because they control the economies and Govt’s around the world. In other words it destroys their wealth.

  24. Makati1 on Mon, 15th Jun 2015 10:17 pm 

    Too little … too late. Greed has ALWAYS ruled humankind and always will. When the culling comes, either by mother nature or by nuclear physics, it will not be limited to ‘those other people’. It will be in your/my neighborhood and your/my home.

    Thinking that we, and ours, will be safe while others die, is the ongoing lie we continually tell ourselves. But that is no longer enough. if you research the annual anti-depressant drug sales in the US, both legal and illegal, it exceeds the GDP of many countries. In the hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

    We sense that something terrible is coming but we cannot face it, so we pop pills, drink, over eat, use every “escape” available(Movies,TV,cell phones,internet,Disney parks,etc.)and procreate like bacteria in an overflowing petri dish as the last grain of food/energy is consumed.

    Kinda make you wonder how we lasted so long as a species, doesn’t it?

  25. zoidberg on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 9:22 am 

    This is the prison planet.

  26. penury on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 9:55 am 

    If you look at the population explosion during the “fossil fuel” era the rate of growth has been obscene. In 1954 the population of the Earth was approx 2 billion, and the U.SW. was 80 million, compare that with today and while you are at it compare living conditions for the poorest people. If the population of a nation can expand by 200 per ce3nt in 60 years, and we are still crying about the need to increase population in order to support the population we are not only in overshoot, we have exceeded peak stupidity.

  27. penury on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 9:58 am 

    Please excuse typing errors it should be U,S. and should be 200 per cent. Still too early.

  28. Kenz300 on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 12:01 pm 

    The least educated people have the most children…

    The poorest people have the most children………

    conversely

    The most educated people have the least children……..

    The wealthiest people have the fewest children……………

    Hhhhhhhmmmmmmm seems to be a trend here………

  29. zoidberg on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 12:45 pm 

    Yes some dummies are removing their lines from the gene pool.

    Who’s dumb?

  30. Kenz300 on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 7:06 pm 

    Is is ethical to have a child that you can not provide food for?

  31. Apneaman on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 7:17 pm 

    Is is ethical for the privileged to buy and preach toxic solar panels when said solar panels are made by the poor in their overpopulated nations. Kenz, if it was not for them your beloved green washed energy would cost you a lot more. In addition, there might be a toxic dystopian lake in you neighborhood. You are aware that many of those children work in those factories, so we can have our toys and green dreams? Who fucking cares hey Kenz, it’s all about feeling superior because you got lucky and were born in the right country.

    The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust

    Hidden in an unknown corner of China is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, gadgets and green tech, discovers Tim Maughan.

  32. John on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 11:22 pm 

    Apnea,

    I’m putting solar panels on my home. They are made by Solar World, who says the panels are made in the U.S. I’m trying to do the right thing, producing my own electricity. I don’t feel superior. I feel scared.

  33. GregT on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 11:31 pm 

    John,

    If there was ever anything to be scared of, it was death itself. It happens to the best of us. 🙂

    You are doing the right thing, you should feel good about installing solar.

  34. John on Tue, 16th Jun 2015 11:55 pm 

    I don’t mean to suggest that I walk around scared every day. But there’s an underlying sense of doom, since I agree with most of what’s said here. Like every other human being, I like to stay warm or cool, eat cooked food, etc. Energy production and use is dirty business. Since I can afford it, why shouldn’t I do my part and produce some or most of my own electricity? At least the production and use of these panels creates something.

  35. GregT on Wed, 17th Jun 2015 12:17 am 

    Move away from largely populated areas, get involved in a small local community, learn to grow your own food, and get out of debt.

    Generating your own electricity, would be a nice bonus.

  36. Apneaman on Wed, 17th Jun 2015 12:31 am 

    I understand John. My point was to latte liberal Kenz who is constantly going on about the inferiority of 3rd world people because they have more children than westerners. Like he has a fucking clue what those peoples lives are like or the choices they have or rather don’t. 21st century white mans burden PC style. I’m sure they told you the panels were made in the USA, but what does that even mean anymore? Assembled? You can buy an American car that was made in the USA, but there are hundreds of parts from dozens of countries, so what does it mean? I would not worry about it since lying to customers in endemic now and it takes a research team to find out the truth. It still stand that most of them and the other tech goodies I mentioned are made by poor folks and kids kenz bitches about under brutal conditions for shitty pay. They are trapped in their system like we are trapped in ours and in theirs having lots of kids means survival and carrying on ones line. It likely works on the subconscious level like most ape behavior. Anyway John I was just reminding kenz of what a cunt he is. I’m not opposed to solar and if I was in your position I might do the exact same thing – we only have a few choices. Which is more then many others. Do a google image search for “coltan mining” it’s in all our green-washed e-goodies. Look at the pictures and ask yourself if education and birth control are those peoples biggest priorities.

    BTW I’m scared too – very scared for my family.

  37. Davy on Wed, 17th Jun 2015 6:32 am 

    John, you brought up good points and so did the Ape. First point is fear. I don’t scare easy. I counted up my near death experiences and the came out to 9. At least half were my own stupidity at a time when I was wild and crazy living on the edge pushing the limits to life physically and mentally. I also had a health problem that almost killed me.

    Anyway today I practice a simple quiet life and gone is the extremes. I don’t scare easy but what is coming scares me mostly for my kids. I have twin 8 year old boys who have a terrible future ahead on a systematic societal level and climate level.

    I personally walk around in a surreal daze because I live doom and prep but within BAU so everything I do is reflected upon. I hate the car culture but have them and use roads. I hate when I throw away the trash but I still buy stuff. I hate grocery stores because I tell myself they are traps for a disjointed people who have lost touch with our true humanity of connection to nature growing food.

    I have fear for insecurity. I wonder what it will be like to kill someone that wants to kill me. I wonder about the last second of being shot or hunger and watching my family starve. Hell yes I feel fear. I also enjoy every day to the fullest. I say grace so to speak at every meal for the real reasons that hunger may visit soon.

    I also want to mention consumption. I agree with the Ape about the 3rd world suffering. It is terrible and it is global. The US has a layer of 3rd world. We are no longer a 3rd and 1st world we are global with layers stretching around the globe. Here in the Ozarks there are poor white trash all over and very nice farms and parts of small towns.

    I am buying every fucking thing I can with a future. I have no apologies about consumption because the consumer society will all be over soon. I am prepping and buying supplies for the coming trip into the unknowns of collapse. The supplies I buy have a future of use or trade. I husband my stuff and treat it with the highest respect many times realizing the ecological destruction its production caused. I buy stuff that is not stupid fad based consumables for an empty and dying way of life. I feel we are cooked with climate change and ecological damage is done. Stock up now while you can.

    I do practice relative sacrifice. I avoid buying and consuming just for enjoyment. Trips are kept to a minimum. I shower and trim my beard much less than a normal person saving energy and water. I waste as little food as possible. I enhance and improve habitat on the farm and try to reduce energy use and chemicals to a minimum through efficient practices. I garden and practice ethical animal husbandry.

    I hate myself in some ways for being human but then I realize nature is doing what nature does and evolves and pushes species out in extinction. We humans like to feel exceptional and individual but that is just a product of a large over grown brain. We are just hairless apes with the same needs as any higher level predator.

    I am collecting books and tools for a postindustrial future although I am not sure there will be one. I am living doom and prep and love it on the level of feeling purpose. I fear and hate on the level of seeing the damage and the suffering ahead. Not only our suffering but Mother Nature’s life of all kinds.

    This is a beautiful world we have destroyed. We took a very complex advanced ecosystem that produced so much more than humans can ever produce and we destroyed it for individual gain. If anything is awful and horrible about humans it is our selfishness of our individuality. Modern man is a destroyer of higher level natural complexity for his lower level human complexity. Compare a fucking IPhone to a clear stream and tell me which is beautiful and complex.

    Man takes beauty and destroys it for personal gain which is usually some stupid hobby or thrill seeking. We are a walking entropy machine destroying everything we touch. Yet, this is natures plan. Anyone that thinks we are above nature is fooling themselves. Society has fool itself into believing in divine manifest destiny which is little more than a macro self-titillation of false superiority from an oversized and evolutionary dead end brain.

  38. John on Thu, 18th Jun 2015 12:56 am 

    Thanks for the responses. I participate in a number of discussion groups for different things, so I don’t often contribute here. Checking in daily, thyough.

  39. GregT on Thu, 18th Jun 2015 1:10 am 

    Stick around John, and join in. There’s a lot going on in the world today, that needs to be discussed.

  40. farmlad on Thu, 18th Jun 2015 8:34 am 

    For some years now my thought processes related to the relationship between humans and the planet that we inhabit, have been influenced significantly by Holistic Management, taught by Allan Savory.

    I think a number of you on this board could benefit a lot.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Savory
    http://jeffersonhub.com/grazing-for-change-speaker-videos/

    http://achmonline.squarespace.com/holistic-management/


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