What will we do about Population Growth/Overcrowding??

[dragonrider]

As standsrds of living rise, people tend to have fewer children. Some of the most developed countries actually have decreasing populations --- there are several with negative population growth in Europe. The US has nearly zero population growth due to birthrate --- it continues to grow through immigration.

If you live in a very poor country, children are your economic security, because they can go to work to help bring money into the family and they can support you in your old age.

If you live in a wealthy country, children are costly because you have to raise them in an expensive society and do things like pay for braces for their teeth and put them through college. And if your country has something like Social Security, or you earn enough to fund your retirement, you don't need children as much to see you through your old age.

If the rest of the world develops more economically, then maybe population growth will stabilize. Of course, if the rest of the world develops more economically, they will also want more consumer goods --- fewer people, but each one consuming more resources.

[Markass]

The world population continues to rise at a very rapid pace.
The population will be like double what it is now in MY lifetime.

Eventually we will have to do SOMETHING.
What do you think the answer is?
Laws restricting the number of kids we can have?
Space Colonization?
Genocide?

Its scary to think about because you know something DRASTIC will have to happen. The Earth simply cannot support the number of people who will be living in this world in the not so distant future?

Interesting tidbit from a geography class last week:
1 out of every 6 people in the world is a chinese peasant!

I know what they're going to do about it in America...Tobacco is one of them...alcohol is another

[Nation_1ne]

Theres so many different things to worry about I don't think much will ever get done.

[Breukelen advocaat]

Here's an article from an Australian medical journal.

Parents should be taxed $5,000 for extra kids

Tamara McLean
December 10, 2007 05:17pm


Parents who have three or more babies should be charged a lifelong tax to offset the carbon emissions their extra children produce, a medical expert says.
A new report published in an Australian medical journal has called for parents to be charged $5,000 a head for every child after their second, and an annual tax of up to $800 every year thereafter.

And couples who get sterilised would be eligible for carbon credits under the controversial proposal.

Perth specialist Professor Barry Walters is heavily critical of the $4,000 baby bonus, saying that paying new parents extra for every baby fuels more children, more emissions and "greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour''.

Instead, it should be replaced with a "baby levy'' in the form of a carbon tax in line with the "polluter pays'' principle, he wrote in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.

"Every family choosing to have more than a defined number of children should be charged a carbon tax that would fund the planting of enough trees to offset the carbon cost generated by a new human being,'' said Prof Walters, an obstetrician at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth.

Sustainable Population Australia suggested a maximum of two, he said.

By the same reasoning, contraceptives like diaphragms and condoms, as well as sterilisation procedures, should attract carbon credits, the specialist said.

"As doctors, I believe we need to think this way,'' he wrote in a letter to the journal.

"As Australians I believe we need to be less arrogant."

"As citizens of the world, I believe we deserve no more population concessions than those in India or China.''

Professor Garry Egger, director of the NSW Centre for Health Promotion and Research, agreed with the call, saying former treasurer Peter Costello's request for three children per family - "one for mum, one for dad and one for the country'' - was too single-minded.

"Population remains crucial to all environmental considerations,'' wrote Prof Eggers, a leading advocate of the personal carbon trading debate.

"The debate (around population control) needs to be reopened as part of a second ecological revolution.''

Family groups have rejected the calls, saying larger families use less energy than smaller ones and therefore should not be penalised.

AAP

[killerweed420]

All we need is another good old fashion world war to straighten the population problem out again. Elect Rudy he should be able to get the job done with his limited mental capabilities.

[Coelho]

Have you heard about Thomas Malthus?

"The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and tens of thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow levels the population with the food of the world."

I am all for the genocide and totally eliminating all 3rd world countries.

Well... i wont expose here my own opinion concerning your country... the very least that would happen to me is a perma ban (as most of mods here also are from u.s.a.)
Anyway... i will let the sands of the time revenge it. My 3rd world's country has NO natural catastrophes (NO hurricanes, NO uncontrolable fires, NO earthquakes)... my country is not target of crazy terrorists, nor of the worlds hate... it has a LOT of oil... it has a PLENTY of water (in fact it has most of the worlds drinkable water) and it will be a serious issue in the future... it has a very good climate, a very fertile land... so we dont need to buy food from another countries... in fact, we export food to many countries (including yours... if you drink coffee thank US!) And all this things are more important each day... so soon there will come the day when you from this so beloved country of yours will envy us here... and i sincerely hope live enough to see it all.

[Zcomp]

First off, mother nature is all powerfull. She balances the in-balance. Gays and lesbians will not produce kids(for the most part). Disease is always an option. but if we don't want to end up on mother natures bad side, I suggest we start issuing licenses to birth. Alot of people are in no position to support a child mentally or financially.
But because sex is the only legal drug left(That actually makes you feel good), Child birth rates will continue to rise. Our only hope is to start thinking a little more realistically. Over population will kill all of us.

[Breukelen advocaat]

Well... i wont expose here my own opinion concerning your country... the very least that would happen to me is a perma ban (as most of mods here also are from u.s.a.)
so soon there will come the day when you from this so beloved country of yours will envy us here... and i sincerely hope live enough to see it all.

The murder rate in your country, Brazil, is over four times higher than the United States'. Other crimes rates there are equally high, and most go unsolved.

Brazil

[MasterKief]

My father owns about 15 acres or so up in the Adirondacks... Worst comes to worse I'm moving up there and building 10' fences around the entire thing!

[CanaDanKs Inc.]

We could start eating each other..
No more overcrowding, no more starving.

and that's a double whammy!