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Facing Overpopulation
 Guillermo Ramón Adames y Suari - PVNN
May 05, 2010
Everybody seems to complain of the unavailability of fresh water. Unavailability of energy. Overcrowded transportation systems. Contaminated environments. Amasssing amounts of garbage. Lack of space. Etc.
It is true: Everybody seems to complain about a lack of something or other. Nobody seems to offer or even suggest a potential solution.
Governments seem to try to solve these problems but apparently they do not seem to solve them altogether. Or they pretend they are solving them. To my mind, they are not facing the problem correctly. Openly, they simply can't. How can a government deal with overpopulation? They simply cannot talk about it. What is the "ideal size" for a population of any given country? There is not a person in his right mind that would diagnose: the ideal population size for country X is about so many million. If this question were asked in the mid 1900 a figure could have been the answer. The same question today would be answered in a population or ethnical and religion wise mixture but again: based on what?
But the overpopulation problem is here and new conflicts will rise. Let's explore the amount of available water. The US has almost dried out the Colorado River to water golf courses in Las Vegas, depriving northern Mexico from that water. In this particular example what would be the reaction of the Golf Courses' owners in Las Vegas if a new town would be built "before" the golf courses? "After" the golf courses nowadays, the Imperial Water Channel is taking off the water from whatever is left off the Colorado River. This, water in Southern California goes to the fields to grow vegetables for America. In cases like these it comes out quite clear that water is not unlimited and we have reached the point in which the available water is not enough for everybody. The River cannot generate more water. What if "everybody" were a little bit less of the overall "everybody"?
Some countries have tried unsuccessfully to diminish the population growth through various incentives: In the 60/70's you could receive a battery radio in India if the government would have practiced vasectomy on you. More recent: the "one child per family" policy in China. In some mental hospitals, disturbed people were sterilized by force. Nobody can dictate how many children a couple must have or who must have them. But still the supply problem is there for all of us. And nobody dare talk about overpopulation.
There is also religion; Any religion: The more people there are in a religious community, the more income the community has. In the name of freedom the population keeps growing. Then there are governments which follow the very same logic the religions do. The governments even encourage couples to contribute to a "small growth" of population. There are demographers who come up with population's studies, country evolution and age pyramids. Because of a number of reasons, people live longer and longer and: Who is going to pay for all those retirement benefits? Governments and demographers warn on the aging population and this way they justify the need more and more taxpayers. (When taxpayers pay). But no government seems warn on the lack of resources for the future: lack of space, lack of food, lack of clean air, lack of water, lack of jobs and lack of you name it. The problem is not even indirectly "hinted". Demographers warn us that towards the year 2020 there will be between 7 to 9 billion people. So? What are we going to do? How are we going to survive?
In the XX century there was a saying in Europe in which it was stated: "If there are too many people, we have a "good war" and start all over again". So they had two wars. More than 100 million died between WWI and WWII: Today we are back in the same situation as before: Overpopulated Europe jammed with illegal aliens. That term "illegal alien" did not exist in the XVIII century. There was place for everybody. Passports at the time? Forget it! If you managed to take a ship to come to the New World nobody would even bother upon your arrival. Try to enter the US or Europe today without your papers in order. You will certainly be accused of being a terrorist. Those are tools of the overpopulation situation: The term "illegal alien" switched to "terrorist". The funny new question is: which term will describe people next? A racial term would certainly be out of fashion. A gender term would show lack of openness which by the way has nothing to do with the problem. A religious term, despite it is in fashion, would warm up a number of countries: I refer myself to any religion. Religions cover regions, continents and go beyond actual countries. It would be very tricky. Probably a new word like cyber-something.
The lack of logic in overpopulation can be illustrated this way: "Imagine suppressing" 100 million people as in WWI and WWII, but this time in China or India today. It would pass almost unnoticed: 3 to 8% of either population. Alternatively: how are we going to feed, to mention only one problem, all of those 7 billion? Where are we going to get all that food from?
Population, to my mind MUST stop growing. Forget the theory: It is simply a matter of survival for all of us that are here now. How? There is no easy solution: The most important one is education but that is on a long term basis: But the problem is here and now. Education could change the course in history but people are hungry today, not in the long run. Religions would not dare give the first step. Probably an intelligent government could open Pandora 's Box and invite the population to offer for example food solutions in an already populated city. Not speaking to the people directly but indirectly. Just showing them that the perspective for their children is not so bright. Children need to be more educated. Show that the problem is beyond government control. Beyond government resources. Today, "the sun no longer comes up for everybody". And even so, you do not eat and drink from the sunlight. This could be MY suggestion. What is yours?
Guillermo Ramón Adames y Suari is a former electoral officer of the United Nations Organization. Contact him at gui.voting(at)gmail.com |
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