the REAL problem is overpopulation

[Aceofbladez]

All you have to do is take a look around. Google Earth is a great way to do this. A firm belief of mine is anything is moderation and balance is not bad. Even drugs/alcohol - used in moderation - are not bad. Balance is key. The Earth's population of Human Beings is way off balance, so much so that it is reaching the end of sustainability and plants, animals, and the atmosphere are suffering.

We wonder why there are food and water shortages. Global warming? How could that be? There are only 6 billion humans on earth - and that number is growing by the hour. It's really scary. Humans think the Earth is "ours". Like is was put here JUST for our pleasure and use. A viewpoint like that, to me, is just plain arrogant. Just because we evolved and can think for ourselves - which, by the way, is an AMAZING feat of nature, dont get me wrong - DOES NOT mean the earth is OURS to do with what we wish.

Back to the topic, until Humans realize just what we are doing to the Earth, and realize that we NEED to do something to curb the population explosion, it will most likely be too late. Too late for all the animals, plants, everything else that depends on the fragile balance that Nature has strived for millions of years to achieve.

[Overflow]

All organisms produce more young than the environment can support

[.ViciouS.]

Indeed, population explosion is just way out of control. But im afraid not much can be done about it. There are way too many people who would oppose such(morales/ethnics will play a big part). Just look at the rise in people wanting to feed the hungry in certain parts of the world, mostly africa. Well it's not that hard to figure out if we feed them, they will sustain life, breed to their heart's content, and what do you know, more people to feed.

People want freedom. This includes the freedom to have as many babies as they want. In America, the government rewards people who have lots and lots of babies. Of course, people take advantage of that. Why wouldn't you if you had no other way of supporting yourself?

Another thing, how often do you get people who really look at the big picture. Most people have it fly over their head because the only big picture they care about is the one they're in.

But I'm not saying it's impossible or that we're doomed. Although, this is gonna be a massive challenge to the people of our times. We're so conformed and conditioned to our way of life that such dramatic change to think in long terms would be the biggest revolution of our time. Such a feat I could dare say would be an evolution of the mind.

[seahag]

population birth control...

[effektz]

Originally Posted by Overflow

All organisms produce more young than the environment can support

That's interesting and most likely true. Evolution baby, spread your seed as much as possible. The earth changes to kill off over-population, and natural selection decides which species move on to the next round

[Maelman]

Originally Posted by Overflow

All organisms produce more young than the environment can support

We have no means of natural selection though, so thus we produce WAY more than our environment can support.

[city4eva204]

modern medicine has destroyed natural selection. this world of ours will not be able to support us for much longer. over population is a huge problem right now, not over crowding in places, but in general we have too large of a "footprint" to have population numbers this significant. we contribute nothing to this planets cycle of life, absolutely nothing. we only take and take and take. it is another belief of mine that the level of consciousness that we have is a curse, we are all afraid of death yet it is a natural balancing process. our societies are set up to rape the land, give nothing back in return, and to stay alive longer than u naturally can. everything is twisted so bad that something drastic will have to happen in order for things to balance out; unfortunately this might mean a drastic climate change and the end of us all, but earth has balanced itself before out and it most definitely will again

[robby.toney]

we should look around and decide who is most delicious.

[kascak]

Originally Posted by Overflow

All organisms produce more young than the environment can support

yeah but everyone of these organisms except us have a majority of those babies die. With medicine there is to great a chance of the babies surviving.

Every time im in a class or something and the environment comes up no matter how good an argument in my head i always end up at the conclusion that there is just to damn many people

[wtfEver]

Originally Posted by robby.toney

we should look around and decide who is most delicious.

[killachronic]

Overpopulation....no chance. Did a research paper on it for argumentative writing. May be a problem for 3rd world poverty stricken areas....maybe. Something else will wipe us out before overpopulation. Too many factors involved. Also talked to some bio professors who were all skeptical of the chance of overpopulation.

[Zylark]

Simple answer is, we do not know what the population limit is with regards to sustainable development. But we do know that current and projected population growth is not sustainable.

For one thing it threatens the few wildlife areas we do have. And secondly, since most won't be content with living in abject poverty, the demands on energy will skyrocket. And with current technology, that spells ecological disaster.

Where we see most childbirth today, is in developing and underdeveloped countries. Which is a bit ironic, since these parts of the world, are the ones that is least prepared to handle any growth in their population.

China essentially did the only reasonable thing to curb this development, before it began to spin out of their control. But received little else but contempt for it from the rest of the world. They set a very definite limit on how many children (would-be) parents could have, and promoted birth control in a massive way. That last thing, is why China among developing nations got one of the lowest HIV/AIDS numbers btw.

Speaking of HIV/AIDS, sub-saharan Africa today have an epidemic. In some regions, a majority is infected. It won't do much to help their societies develop, but it will put a cap on population growth there.

[seahag]

Paleontologist Peter Ward offers evidence in his April 2007 book, Under a Green Sky, that all but one of the major extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change — the same global warming that occurs today. Reviewer Doug Brown goes further, stating [2] "This Is How The World Ends". Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds also warn that the [3] fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction], according to a ScienceDaily release, Oct. 24, 2007.

[wtfEver]

So the bottom line is pretty much:

Do what you can while your here to help...

and..

enjoy it while it lasts.

[Maitereya]

^^ tell your grandchildren you lived it up, while they are stuck in a world with no resources and rampant disease.

the way people live today is completely unsustainable. i think its like .9% of america is sustainable. the technology is here to make the world a sustainable place and a place without rampant disease. the government is doing nothing to stop pollution and the energy problem, its basically letting the big corporations take control of the environment and the fate of earth.

basically the population is sustainable, but we are too stupid to implement the sustainability.