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Overpopulation

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
It used to be a MASSIVE political issue on which everyone agreed, but now it's rarely mentioned. You'd think the problem had been sorted, but it hasn't.
There isn't a single political issue, wars, environment, education, oil, globalization, where a massive reduction in global population wouldn't be useful. It's as true locally as it is globally.
Our island cannot support it's human population, meaning huge environmental costs due to importing food from around the world, and turning whole regions of the world into factories for the west. Our cities are overcrowded and our countryside has been destroyed by intensive farming. There's inter-ethnic tension as different groups compete for scarce resources such as housing and education. Our travel systems cannot cope. Our health systems cannot cope. Shouldn't overpopulation be a major issue again? http://www.optimumpopulation.org
The dismantle.org website is worth looking around. This is a link to the population page, just see how the Global population racks up as you're on the page, and think what problems this will cause for the world!
http://www.dismantle.org/pop.htm
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Now I'm no geographer.... but what a load of arse.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We are not overcrowded, there is plenty of space.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Renzo
    We are not overcrowded, there is plenty of space.
    Our cities ARE overcrowded, that's why they're expanding. At the expense of the greenbelt, wildlife, human health and quality of life. Don't deny the obvious.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ok boys and girls some figures on the population of the UK...

    the Population of the UK is 59.1 million

    it has a growing population but it equates to 0.4% increase from 2001

    from 1971 the population has grown 6.5% from 1971 from 55.9 million...

    http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6&Pos=3&ColRank=1&Rank=144

    If you look at the figures it shows that population of the UK has grown but not rapidly as some people claim
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We are not overpopulated. The problem is not too many people and not enough resources, but how those resources are distributed.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    what do you propose as a solution?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I assume that all these people, and yourself nckdn, will have no children, and will commit suicide soon?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wasn't it Malthus around the seventeenth century who was prediciting doom and gloom if the British population reached over 5 million?

    If the UK and Europe has a problem its not overpopulation, but an aging population with too few young people. We need more immigrants - not less.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Population data

    I don't think overpopulation is as much of an issue in the UK and the Western World in general but in the developing nations it is a real issue. There are regions that are barely able to support the current population.

    To suggest overpopulation isn't a problem in some areas is naive.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by BumbleBee


    To suggest overpopulation isn't a problem in some areas is naive.

    As I said - it's distribution that's the problem. If we have restaurants and supermarkets that are throwing out lots of unused food everyday and if we have people dying of overeating and obesity, there's obviously a surplus of food. So why are some people starving?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There is an issue of overpopulation but from what I have read the world population is set to stabilise by the end of this century and there has been no scare as to not having enough food etc, like someone said it is the distribution rather than the quantity that is most important.

    There is of course a very important issue with resource use but this would occur whatever the population was as resources are finite, it just means we have to deal with it sooner, i.e. develop recycling and sustainable use faster..........
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Overpopulation has always been a problem.
    However it's all down to carrying capacity of the land. As the population has increased, technology has also greatly improved, allowing us to get more resources from the same amount of land. This will continue to do so.
    Yes, the population will increase, however by the time it does we will have achieved the technology toleave the planet and we can begin to colonise the solar system.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    its actually worrying that if we helped the poorer countries in asia and africa over come diseases that blight them that the population would increase furthermore, really awful moral question really
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Toadborg
    There is an issue of overpopulation but from what I have read the world population is set to stabilise by the end of this century and there has been no scare as to not having enough food etc, like someone said it is the distribution rather than the quantity that is most important.

    There is of course a very important issue with resource use but this would occur whatever the population was as resources are finite, it just means we have to deal with it sooner, i.e. develop recycling and sustainable use faster..........

    At last somebody has some concern for the environment! If we're serious about living sustainably it means we should move toward providing our own food and fuel from our own land. If we're serious about protecting vulnerable indigenous cultures around the world, it means protecting their lands too, not turning the world into a farm for greedy westerners. If we're serious about eradicating poverty in the developing world, we have to stop importing their brightest and best educated people to work here, and instead pay them to work in their own countries. And if we're serious about protecting our own countryside and wildlife, having a transport system that works, providing top quality health care and education, and so on, we must reduce our population.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't quite see how reducing the population equals better healthcare and education?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How would you reduce the population???
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    1 child policy like China I assume would be the only solution that didn't involve murdering people (think Logans run)..........
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Whowhere
    we will have achieved the technology toleave the planet and we can begin to colonise the solar system.
    always mekas me laugh this one.
    we went to the moon ...couldn't be arsed going back.
    we now go round and round our planet cos ...theres nowhere else to go!
    all the other planets are either dead or out of reach.

    Light Year: the distance that light travels (through a vacuum) in one year (9.46 x 10^17 cm).

    The nearest star (other than the Sun) is 4.3 light years away.

    Our galaxy (the Milky Way) is about 100,000 light years in diameter.

    The distance to the galaxy M87 in the Virgo cluster is 50 million light years.

    The distance to most distant object seen in the universe is about 18 billion light years (18 x 10^9 light years).
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Whowhere
    Yes, the population will increase, however by the time it does we will have achieved the technology toleave the planet and we can begin to colonise the solar system.
    WW ...do you actualy know very much about our solar system?
    please tell me where in the solar system we can move house to.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by J
    People will have to learn to be less greedy...
    not much sign of that happening!
    we are more aware ...more informed and more capable than ever before and what happens ...we want more and we want it now ...seems to be the way of things.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by marv
    How would you reduce the population???

    *cough*
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by marv
    How would you reduce the population???
    hennry kissinger ...anyone remember him ...he said that the continent of africa would have to be depopulated massively in the near future ...this was the seventies ...so the west could have all the economic advantages of such a vast continent ...if the place was destabilised through massive population reduction (destruction) ...
    the west would bennefit hugely ...then came aids ...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by NQA
    Wasn't it Malthus around the seventeenth century who was prediciting doom and gloom if the British population reached over 5 million?
    If the UK and Europe has a problem its not overpopulation, but an aging population with too few young people. We need more immigrants - not less.


    If we increase our population now because of those demographics, the problem will be even worse for the next generation. Should they then increase their population and so on ad infinitum, or should we begin to live responsibly now?
    Here's a debate on this very question between two academics, http://www.population-growth-migration.info/WorldEconomicsDebate.pdf
    And an interesting page, http://www.population-growth-migration.info/essays/what_policy.html
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Whowhere
    Overpopulation has always been a problem.
    However it's all down to carrying capacity of the land. As the population has increased, technology has also greatly improved, allowing us to get more resources from the same amount of land. This will continue to do so.
    Yes, the population will increase, however by the time it does we will have achieved the technology toleave the planet and we can begin to colonise the solar system.

    Let's hope we find another planet to populate... Because the earth won't last forever if people keep on fucking without protection.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by MoonRat
    Let's hope we find another planet to populate...
    this attitude realy pisses me off ...partly because it's unrealistic but mostly because ...we have an all mod cons beautiful planet right here! we produce enough of everything for about ten planets ...yet less than a third of us live in comfort.
    somehow it's ok to carry on like this as long as there are an enough other planets to vandalise and destroy ...it's fucking madness!
    it realy is the thinking of the insane ...by the way ...there aren't any other planets ....
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i know we live in a disposable society but when it comes to disposable worlds i believe we have failed.
    it is a frightening mentality!
    we are obviously very primitive when the answer is ...'fuck it ...theres always somewhere else' ...
    primitives with high technology ...seriously fucking scary!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i don't think moonrat quite meant it like how you took it. that she agrees with your viewpoint but that we will need one if people don't change, not that she agrees with that.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Maladjusted
    i don't think moonrat quite meant it like how you took it. that she agrees with your viewpoint but that we will need one if people don't change, not that she agrees with that.
    well i hope your right ...i think of her as an earth mother ...not a fucking mindless vandal who would relish such waste and wanton destruction.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by nckdn
    If we increase our population now because of those demographics, the problem will be even worse for the next generation. Should they then increase their population and so on ad infinitum, or should we begin to live responsibly now?
    Here's a debate on this very question between two academics, http://www.population-growth-migration.info/WorldEconomicsDebate.pdf
    And an interesting page, http://www.population-growth-migration.info/essays/what_policy.html

    What is your solution?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Fiend_85
    What is your solution?

    The Chinese could solve their problem with a very strict 'one child policy', reinforced with economic penalties, social censure, education programmes and so on. The Chinese people were willing to go along with a population control programme for the good of their whole society. As the Chinese become more prosperous and 'free' that'll change. Even if the British recognised the problem of overpopulation in their own country, and cared about it's effects abroad, would they be willing to change their lifestyles and put the greater good before their own personal interest? Would they accept the state telling them to have just one child, that they should reduce their consumption of imported goods and fuels, that they should care for their parents in old age, and so on? I don't think they would, our 'freedom' seems to mean the freedom to be selfish, lazy, greedy, consumers, without social conscience. Kissinger's prediction or something similar will probably happen eventually, because more of the world's people are getting sucked into the amoral, consumerist mindset of the West, and if we are unable to live responsibly in such a society, will they?
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