It’s interesting to read the comments on the original thread that I posted. By the end it looks like I’ve been advocating genocide and infanticide. How many really read the original post on overpopulation and its negative consequences?
I’ve long believed overpopulation (yes I know it’s a subjective term) really IS a problem in our society. I’ve traveled the globe and noticed that the quality of life in extremely crowed countries is low and often VERY low. I’ve always been glad that I’m an American and could come back to the USA were there is some breathing room. Also I’ve noticed in my life that many parts of the US are starting to look like third world countries. Those are the areas with the greatest population density. Ask anyone who lived in the Los Angeles area in the 1950’s or 1960’s and have a living memory of the place a simple question. Is the quality of life better today or was it better then? I’d wager every cent I have on the outcome of their answers.
Many have replied that we still have plenty of space. You get replies that if you go out into the middle of the Arizona desert, it’s almost completely unpopulated. Yes and there’s a good reason that’s it’s unpopulated. There isn’t any or enough water there to sustain a civilization. It’s a great environment for lizards or snakes but that’s about it. You also hear the inane argument that every person on the planet could fit inside the state of Texas with an acre of land or something like this. This is an even dumber argument. People don’t and cannot live this way. All of us use far more land than that little piece of property we might live on. You must consider food, water, shelter, energy, transportation, waste disposal, natural resources, employment, recreation, and so many other factors it would take the rest of the day. This isn’t even to talk about quality of life in the way we have come to know it.
When I mentioned clean water I got one of the most unbelievable replies. One suggested that we could get all the clean water through desalination plants powered by nuclear power plants. Well I guess the people in the central part of the country are screwed because they are not near the ocean. Really, this is beyond belief. Yes in theory we can get clean water from the ocean through desalination plants. But what is the political reality of this? We can’t get a nuclear power plant approved now. How are we going to get all these nukes built? It’s not going to happen.
Ok, Long threads like this don’t tend to get read very often so I will bring this to a conclusion:
1. Overpopulation and the rate of growth of the US population is a serious problem
2. Overpopulation leads to all kinds of strife and eventually violence
3. Overpopulation destroys the natural environment at some point
4. Overpopulation leads to a lower quality of life (as defined by most).
5. Overpopulation Problems are much worst in non-homogenous countries (USA)
6. Overpopulation will destroy our cherished freedoms and traditions.
7. Immigration (both legal and illegal) is the driving force of our population problem.
I could easily list about 50 more but I will stop here as I think most will get the picture.