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Overpopulation: What will happen?

Posted by Cambion 
Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 17, 2008
Okay, I'll come right out and admit I'm looking for some inspiration for an assignment. I chose to make a poster dealing with addressing the problem of overpopulation and how it IS a problem...but I'm having issues figuring out how to make my picture tell the story without words. And I would just in general like to hear people's views on the population crisis and what you think might happen if said crisis is not dealt with.

Soo, what do you think? It is estimated that the world population will be 9 billion by 2050. The Earth can comfortably hold 1-2 billion people, and if we reach the point of 10-15 billion, humans will be in definite danger of breeding themselves into destruction.

Do you think the government would take measures to control the population? Or do you think they would continue to protect the sanctity of potential life and fuck the working sentient adults over? How far do you think the government will go to save our species in the event our population does reach the 15 billion mark and things get dangerous? Would it get so nuts that people might start killing their own family members? Would hospitals close their doors to everyone but cancer patients because they couldn't keep up with the treatment of so many? Would people fight and kill to fulfill basic needs like food, water, warmth, or fuel? Might people turn to cannibalism in the event there was not enough food for everyone? Who would be preferred - breeders or non-breeders?

Thoughts?
nowhiggers
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 17, 2008
rent "Soylent Green" with Charlton Heston

The humans in that movie continued to breed and breed and breed, and no birth control measures mentioned at all... the end of the movie is the twist I will not spoil for you, but if you know breeders, then you know "who" is slated for death at the end.
nowhiggers
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 17, 2008
Which reminds me here, how come Soylent Green has never had a remake? I guess there isn't enough sprog worshipping and fambly valyoos in it.

Soylent Green really is the quintessential childfre flick. "Overpopulation" talk offends the breeders.
This is a HUGE issue for me. There's hardly a day I don't (at least silently) bemoan the population crisis. I blame every last ill that plagues our world on overpopulation (as a direct, or at least indirect, culprit). Concern about what humans are doing to destroy the planet (along with some other slightly wackier philosophical problems I have with forcing others to exist) is the main reason I have elected not to procreate.

I have a lot to opine on the matter, but let me first say that I do believe our species will continue to breed to the point that we'll not only have destroyed the planet, but we'll take ourselves down with it. Our birth rates may be dropping, but people are also tending to live longer, and our sheer numbers ensure we'll continue to grow as a cancer on the planet.

There are so many things that can take us out: famine is starting to loom in a more global way than ever lately, and water shortages are also going to become a more pressing problem. Then, of course, there are epidemics and plagues that can only fester in ever more hideous ways with so many of us crowded together on this earth.

There are many theories about what the earth's so-called "carrying capacity" is. I feel one factor that is often neglected, but is very important, is quality of life. One scientist may say that the planet can sustain 12 billion of us. But others could argue that a more realistic number may be closer to only 1 billion, if we were to maintain some minimal quality of life that included clean air and water (and how about personal space... and silence, if that's not too much to ask?)

You wanted to represent overpopulation without words, in some art form or other. That made me think of Nina Paley. She created this animated short called "Fertco". It is hilarious, and paints the picture so aptly. I bet you can find it on Youtube or some such. You should really check it out. It might inspire you in some way.

Good luck.
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 18, 2008
http://www.optimumpopulation.org/

check this site out its got all the facts and figures

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
Anonymous User
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 18, 2008
Nina Paley's 'Fertco' video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq0XHVxa7DQ -- be sure to read the comments. Also, check out her other video 'The Stork is the Bird of War'.
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 18, 2008
Thank you for your words, everyone. At the risk of sounding like a crazy artist, I got inspired in a dream last night and I have a nifty idea for the poster.

But the overpopulation issue is a hot button for me as well. It makes me see red when people will say shit like, "Oh the earth is bigger than you think" or "Everyone in the world could fit inside the state of Texas" or "the world is UNDERpopulated (translation: not enough perfect white babies)". As far as I can tell, that's just shit stupid people get told to mask the truth...there IS a population problem and we deal with it in a totally typically American way - denial. So many people figure that if we just ignore a problem, it will magically go away.

Funnily enough, people who believe there is no population problem are often the ones who have half a dozen kids or more.

I think if the government started paying people for NOT breeding, we would see a drastic drop in birth rates...but that will never happen because of the overall baybee-worshipping attitude so many people have. Seriously, if everyone in the world stopped breeding for a whole year, we'd still be overpopulated. On average, about 56 million people die each year (from various causes). That's not even 1 percent of the current global population.

Children are not the fuckin' future - at this rate, children will be the reason there is no future.
My concern will be with the rationing of necessities. Who will decide who gets the health care, fresh water and who will get to live in the least polluted environments? And, who decides who the "deciders" will be? How will the determining crieteria be established? My fear is that the entitlement minded breeders will strive to impose their own self importance above and before anyone else's welfare.

BTW, this may (is) be off topic, but is anyone familiar with the "Handmaids Tail"?
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 18, 2008
this is from 1991 (from here http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/vegetarian.html#link1)

The human population of this planet is now approaching six billion and, even if every country on Earth enforced a strict and effective birth-control policy today, it is estimated that the total population will climb to fifteen billion before stabilising. The Earth's total land area is 179,941,270 square kilometres (69,479,518 square miles). A little simple mathematics tells us that at present, on average, one square kilometre has to support just over thirty-three people. If all of it were cultivated, that would certainly be possible.


The argument fails, however, because not all of it is available for arable cultivation. The main environmental factors which determine plant development and distribution are climate and soil type. We can discount the whole of the unproductive continent of Antarctica, so that reduces the total by 13,335,740 square kilometres immediately.

We can also discount, at least as far as arable farming is concerned, all other ice-covered areas, tundra, mountains, deserts, heath and moor land, areas covered by rivers, salt marshes and lakes, cities, roads, and railways; and to a large extent semi-deserts, savannah, rain forest, low-lying meadow land and areas liable to regular flooding. We have now discounted most of the Earth's surface. In fact, only eleven percent of the land surface is farmed.

Almost all of the land we have just discounted does support grass or other plant life which we cannot utilise directly

The prosperous, well-fed United Kingdom has a total land area of some 88,736 square miles (229,827 sq km) and a population of 57,537,000 ( 1991 Census)

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
In response to Genie, I think the criteria will be: whoever can afford the best and the cleanest will get the best and the cleanest. After all, hasn't that precedent already been set? What could possibly change?

In response to merc's article, now with global warming fast at work, we should see more arable land being freed up! /sarcasm off...
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 18, 2008
actually, if global warming did exist.. it would open up siberia, the entire russian steppes.. and thats BIG, and under populated because the growing season is too short.. the deserts would grow a bit more (or may not they arent sure.. could lead to ice age or warming or nothing at all. all i have to say is if they cant predict tomorrows weather, how can they predict 100 years from now, )..

your sarcasm, isnt as sarcastic as you think. its more true..

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
My sarcasm was about acting like global warming is a blessing. The idea that retreating glaciers and thawing tundra would open up more arable land is reasonable, and I wasn't meaning for that part to be sarcastic.
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 20, 2008
Unfortunately because most people are too stupid to see the writing on the wall BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, things will have to downward spiral into desperate situations. The breeders will be screaming for MORE MORE MORE. The government will continue to take from the childfree - and I think it will get a lot worse for the CF in the form of very high taxes. Our government would NEVER tell people to stop breeding.
Anonymous User
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 20, 2008
This has always been a pretty hot topic for me, also.

I'd like to add that just as our current war is actually a war over oil, I think the population problem will cause more & bloodier wars over water rights, arable land, and any other resources running scarce. The shifts in political powers will not be pretty and may be what finally does us in.
Re: Overpopulation: What will happen?
May 20, 2008
Birth control would have prevented this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/05/20/ethiopia.children/index.html?iref=topnews

Keep working more hours, CF people! Millions of breeders depend on us.
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