Overpopulation Is Choking This World

Over 7 billion humans on this planet, although no one really knows for sure. Maybe it is 8 billion, maybe more. It is impossible to know. The millions of people living in shanty towns, in huge slums, in shacks along filthy rivers, sleeping under bridges, sleeping outside in urban slums, are impossible to count. But for the sake of argument, we will be conservative and say the number is 7 billion, which is widely accepted for some unknown reason. So what do we have with 7 billion? Let us start with one overpopulated country of over 100 million people. Almost every river is contaminated. Thousands live on the streets. Millions live in slums and shanty towns. There is not an adequate sewage system. Millions without access to clean water. When it rains, in many places raw sewage comes up. Hardly an intact forest, coral reef or mangrove is left. The fishing stock is depleted. The waters have simply been over fished and damaged. When the population was much smaller some 60 years ago, a whole different picture emerges. A healthier population, a healthier environment. Abundant fish. A country that exported food,ate healthy foods, (not the ever prevalent junk food), and that did not have to rely upon other nations for food. What has 7 billion people brought? The widespread extinction, or near extinction, of thousands of species of flora and fauna. The pending collapse of biodiversity. The widespread destruction of rain forests, mangroves, coral reefs, healthy fisheries. The contamination of countless rivers, streams, lakes, coastal regions. The huge loss of most large in size wildlife. The strange,sad presence in far too many forests and wilderness areas of nothing but small animals, small birds, because everything else has been decimated. The widespread presence among large populations of humans and other animals high on the food chain of an array of toxic chemicals, pesticides, dioxins, flame retardants,heavy metals and so forth, that no previous existing populations ever had to contend with, and that no one knows yet for sure what will be the long term consequences. The thinning of the ozone layer, with the result that more of the sun's radiation causes cancer and other disease. A change in weather patterns. The proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials. The rise in demented fanatics ever eager to cause mass killings. There are those that will say, the world is not overpopulated. Resources are just unequally distributed. This is their way of avoiding responsibility, and casting it elsewhere in an arena where nothing has ever been justly and equally distributed. Even the poorest of the poor negatively impact the environment. Many have to cut trees for charcoal and firewood in order to cook and in some places for warmth. Poverty stricken people living in areas where there still are wildlife are going to get bush meat rather than starve. No human alive is without an environmental impact. Of course, those that live large consume far more. The world economies demand consumption, otherwise the whole economic system supposedly collapses. But the needs of the environment demand restraint. Long term, humans will not be rescued from poverty and disease by relentlessly damaging our environment. The answer is not war. The answer is not forcing the reduction of the human population. The answer is embracing sound, sensible policies to reduce family sizes going forward. In Asia,in countries like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, S. Korea, where family sizes are small, a far higher standard of living has been achieved than in countries where there is little to no family planning, and where there are large family sizes. The countries with large family sizes are often mired in mass poverty and environmental devastation. Some argue that the world is not overpopulated because all of the humans in the world can fit into the state of Texas. But this is a false argument, because people require vast amounts of land and resources in order to be sheltered, clothed, fed, to say nothing of other human needs. Some argue that for religious reasons, humans can and should keep breeding endlessly. But if 7 billion humans have already devastated much of the earth, caused widespread extinctions or near extinctions, mass poverty and endless war,then how can an even greater number be sustainable? Controlling human population should be an important environmental concern. But do not count on the environmental/wildlife organizations to embrace this controversial issue, because their agenda is their own pockets, not alienating donors. Another reason that efficient nations with little corruption,should spear head environmental concerns, while there is still a little left of nature,wildlife and biodiversity. Fifty years from now, what will this world be like when it is even more crowded with people, and there is a further decline in nature,biodiversity and wildlife? A world full of trash, garbage, toxic waste, polluted oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, coasts, air. And with the hatreds and conflicts still raging, people will learn one day that their undoing is not the other group of people they hate or despise, but the way a once abundant and giving earth ceases to be so.