Overpopulation: Is there a Solution ?

We all know the overpopulation of the earth is a problem. Worldwide famine, disease and conflict for resources will plague our next generation if we don't do anything.

But what can be done to solve this problem or have we gone past the window to take reasonable measures, is only drastic measures needed to solve the overpopulation problem ?

China use the one baby per family scheme. Families seek to maintain their family name so baby girls get aborted. There will be an imbalance of Males to Females in future China, leading to a creation crisis for China's next generation. If this was deployed it would have to be monitored to prevent imbalances and would require great intrusions in people's lives .

OR can we forcefully sterilise a large proportion world's population to reduce the population, is that morally right. Do the rights of an Individual exceed that of the greater good of humanity?

I was wondering is there any other solutions people can see

Logan's Run.

Give everyone a good modern standard of living a good health service etc and population growth seems to stagnate or decrease.

free condoms!

Well the one child policy would work (though I'm not advocating it), the population would be halved, however the problems arise of having an ageing population - where the work force is very low and the elderly is very high (immigration is one source of alleviating this). I think many countries, especially in the west, would need to be in much more dire straits before they would even consider implementing it. I mean this is much more humane than other many other methods.

Reply 5

Nick100

5

Original post by sevchenko

We all know the overpopulation of the earth is a problem. Worldwide famine, disease and conflict for resources will plague our next generation if we don't do anything.

You know it's funny; my parents heard the same thing when they were my age, as did my grandparents, and this claim that the world is overpopulated has been made since at least the early 19th century. It has been wrong one hundred percent of the time.

Overpopulation is not a problem; we have the technology to feed and provide energy for everyone on Earth. The problem we face as a species is that much of the world is under the control of kleptocrats, tyrants, and corrupt bureaucrats.

But what can be done to solve this problem or have we gone past the window to take reasonable measures, is only drastic measures needed to solve the overpopulation problem ?

No such measures are necessary; the population is expected to level off at about 10 to 11 billion. Even the unlikely high estimate of 14 billion will be sustainable with 22nd century technology.

China use the one baby per family scheme. Families seek to maintain their family name so baby girls get aborted. There will be an imbalance of Males to Females in future China, leading to a creation crisis for China's next generation. If this was deployed it would have to be monitored to prevent imbalances and would require great intrusions in people's lives .

OR can we forcefully sterilise a large proportion world's population to reduce the population, is that morally right. Do the rights of an Individual exceed that of the greater good of humanity?

I was wondering is there any other solutions people can see

Or instead of adopting totalitarianism and creating global oppression and misery maybe we could continue on our current path of developing technology to sustain ourselves?

Reply 6

Kiss

2

Original post by Nick100

You know it's funny; my parents heard the same thing when they were my age, as did my grandparents, and this claim that the world is overpopulated has been made since at least the early 19th century. It has been wrong one hundred percent of the time.

Overpopulation is not a problem; we have the technology to feed and provide energy for everyone on Earth. The problem we face as a species is that much of the world is under the control of kleptocrats, tyrants, and corrupt bureaucrats.

No such measures are necessary; the population is expected to level off at about 10 to 11 billion. Even the unlikely high estimate of 14 billion will be sustainable with 22nd century technology.

Or instead of adopting totalitarianism and creating global oppression and misery maybe we could continue on our current path of developing technology to sustain ourselves?

How do you know that?

Reply 7

College_Dropout

21

One way to reduce it here would be to cut welfare, too many 15 year olds getting pregnant and than making it there full time career.

Reply 8

Aivicore

16

Original post by Kiss

Logan's Run.

You beat me to it!

An ageing population (which would result from the methods OP discussed) presents just as many problems as an expanding one. Human population will crash eventually, but unless we've any Psychohistorians amongst us I don't think TSR are gonna predict quite how...

Reply 9

Ladyliesel

14

There are plenty of solutions but few are ethical

Reply 10

Nick100

5

Original post by Kiss

How do you know that?

Because large parts of Africa still haven't applied the techniques of the green revolution; if they applied them they could feed some multiple of what they do now. In addition, the US and EU have reduced agricultural output due to their agricultural policies, genetic modification of plants has not been adopted worldwide and there is still room for refinement of the technique, aquaculture has been growing rapidly for the last decade and may eventually replace fishing, and lab-grown meat has recently been synthesized and is much more energy efficient than regular meat - mass production of it could feed many times the number that regular meat currently does. Finally, new grazing strategies make farming of livestock a viable option in areas where it was previously thought that they harmed the environment. With all of these advances applied globally we could feed double our current population.

Reply 11

Dylann

21

Implement birth control adverts worldwide.

Food distribution needs to be changed so that physically African and other less-developed countries are storing food.

People need to stop believing that we're 'over-populating'. It's funny how we destroy all the trees, use up all the natural resources and THEN people say we're "overpopulating".

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 12

username878045

17

Original post by Kiss

Logan's Run.

That's the cowards way. I say Battle Royale!

Reply 13

Smushy

12

World War Three! No that would be horrible.
I really don't know? Perhaps we could find a way to bring welfare systems to places where kids end up providing for their parents in their old age, so that the parents no longer need to have as many children? We could also promote contraception? :dontknow:

Reply 14

Habsburg

10

Original post by Dylann

Remove Roman Catholic teachings on contraception in Africa and implement birth control.

This; Catholic teachings on contraception are a lot more damaging than their teachings on other social issues. One edict could alleviate so much suffering.

Reply 15

study beats

22

Original post by sevchenko

We all know the overpopulation of the earth is a problem. Worldwide famine, disease and conflict for resources will plague our next generation if we don't do anything.

But what can be done to solve this problem or have we gone past the window to take reasonable measures, is only drastic measures needed to solve the overpopulation problem ?

China use the one baby per family scheme. Families seek to maintain their family name so baby girls get aborted. There will be an imbalance of Males to Females in future China, leading to a creation crisis for China's next generation. If this was deployed it would have to be monitored to prevent imbalances and would require great intrusions in people's lives .

OR can we forcefully sterilise a large proportion world's population to reduce the population, is that morally right. Do the rights of an Individual exceed that of the greater good of humanity?

I was wondering is there any other solutions people can see

people just need to stop reproducing, they need to see hatred for babies and kids....

and we must put into place a one child policy in every country....