What will we do about Population Growth/Overcrowding??

[solid6]

meh, if everyone in the world gathered in the same place and stood an arms length apart form each other we could fit us all in texas.....do the calculations, seriously

carbon dioxide.

[dragonrider]

People need to realize that if we said certain things now it would be considered "distasteful" or "unsympathetic" but eventually we will have no option. The sad truth is that I personally believe we will have to start killing off those people who are statistically less likely to do anything good for the world. It's terrible but the Earth's carrying capacity simply isn't high enough for the rate we are making babies. Sex just feels too good i guess...

This sounds a bit Nazi too me. Who is going to decide who deserves to live? You? A bunch of white guys? A bunch of black guys?

Don't worry too much about this. After The Collapse, natural selection will decide who is fit enough to survive, so there's no need to get a jump on it by killing off the weak.

meh, if everyone in the world gathered in the same place and stood an arms length apart form each other we could fit us all in texas.....do the calculations, seriously


were not running out of room

The problem is not running out of space to stand. The problem is running out of resources and places to put our waste. It takes many acres of land to produce all that a single person consumes. And apparenlty the entire planet is not enough space to put all of our CO2. As you said, "do the calculations, seriously."

clearly, as demonstrated here in the states and other well off nations were not running out of food either.....its just the issue of equal and fair distribution that we need to worry about because everyone deserves food

People eat well in the developed countries, but a lot of that food comes from other places. You are right that "everyone deserves food." But in many cases we eat well BECAUSE of unfair and unequal distribution that takes food away from other people.

One example is fish that are caught by large commercial fishing business and are frozen and sold in the US and in Europe --- the fish are overfished in other countries, leaving nothing for locals to eat, causing starvation, disease, and death. There are many examples of this kind of thing, not just in relation to fishing --- it happens when a commercial interest can take control of a local resource and sell it to the highest bidder all over the globe. Local poor people lose out, and rich developed countries get the resource and are seldom even aware where it came from. You might think there is no food problem, because your store is always stocked, but that food came from somewhere --- maybe right out of someone elses mouth.

Go 50 miles in ANY direction and you will be in the middle of fucking nowehere buy property, when you get old you can sell it and retire.

There is no such thing as over crowding or over population except in Tokyo. I live in the suburbs of Los Angeles and if I take the I10 (main east/west artery in SoCal) east for 20 miles I am in the middle of nowhere. If I take the I5 (again, major north/south artery in SoCal) more then 30 miles, I am in the middle of nowhere and this is Los Angeles, not Iowa, Montana, Nebreska, Idaho, Dakotas, Colorado, etc.

The population could explode by 20 in the next 100 years and we still wouldn't run out of space.

More housing = more jobs = more stores = more everything.

The problem is not space, it is resources. You live in LA, which is a prime example. There is plenty of room for the people, and plenty of room to build more houses, shopping malls, etc., but not enough water. Even 60 years ago there was not enough water.

You say you can go 50 miles in any direction and you will be in the middle of nowhere. Years ago, LA bought water rights in the Owens valley and destroyed the agricultural industry there. It may have seemed like the middle of nowhere to people in LA, but people did make a nice life there in the middle of nowhere, and overpopulation in LA caused LA to take those people's resources and destroy those people's nice lives. Now LA draws water from hundreds of miles away, and draws other resources from all over the planet.

Overpopulation is the root of all the other enviromental problems. There is not enough food, water, fuel and other resources for all the people. In the developed world, our economies allow us to get those resources from other places, but all the money in the world won't buy us any more when the planet just plain runs out.

[dragonrider]

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."

Many people thought Malthus was wrong because he predicted a huge collapse of population long ago, and it did not happen. But the reason it did not happen was that during the colonial era, more and more resources were disocevered around the world, and new industrial farming techniques were discovered that increased crop yields, and those factors delayed the day of reconing. Now there are no new undiscovered resources to exploit, and we find that those industrial farmng techniques actually deplete the land to the point where they become less productive over time, and still our population grows. Malthus will probably be proved right within our own lifetimes.

[snowblind]

how about rather than western countries wasting massive budgets on the military, we invest it in nations that need it. then help them stabalise their economies and develop themselves.

then we will have places to migrate.

i also think there should be no social benefits for people who get pregnent and are under 21 in the uk.

and benefits should be drastically cut after the first child, with nothing for the 3rd child and any after.

you want kids you should be able to pay for them

[SantaClawz]

Survival of the fittest.

[MadSativa]

Their is still enough room for everybody, Even if the population doubles, tripples, the major citties will build bigger housing more everything, We wont have yards or things like that anymore but, people who live in Shanghigh usualy dont even have kitchens just a closet with a bed and a toilet. In Tokyo they are building the first building city, I think in the next 100 years or so these building cities will be everywhere. If the Space aliens or the Religons dont kill us then Sky City in Japan is the future. It is only logical before we can colinize space we will have to live here.

Sky City 1000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

it says a possible future but they have already laid out foundation and started building, it is very impresive, everything from water purification, housing and food distibution, jobs, shops, are their. No need for a car if you work, and live in the sky city.

[dragonrider]

Things like the Sky City relieve the problems of overcrowding, not the problems of overpopulation. We will always have enough room to put people, even without things like the Sky City. But we will not always have enough food, water and energy if population keeps growing.

[LazySmoking420]

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[marijuanavillebilly]

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

hell yeah but off subject.

start a war. only people that fight are middle and lower class of the economy.

[Box215]

United States:
Population 302,993,000
Land Area 3,793,079

China:
Population 1,321,851,888
Land Area 3,704,427

in other words, at least here, theres still A LOT of room left. Not really worried about overcrowding