"Unlike plagues of the dark ages or contemporary diseases we do not understand, the modern plague of overpopulation is soluble by means we have discovered and with resources we posses. What is lacking is not sufficient knowledge of the solution but universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem and education of the billions who are its victim."
--Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader and Nobel laureate
Political discussion involving population growth does not exist in the presidential primaries. I'm a chronic MSM watcher/reader and its never discussed. Global warming, while a real threat, is a much more fashionable topic. Global warming is frankly a symptom of the larger disease that is plaguing the planet; too many humans.
"Which is the greater danger - nuclear warfare or the population explosion? The latter absolutely! To bring about nuclear war, someone has to DO something; someone has to press a button. To bring about destruction by overcrowding, mass starvation, anarchy, the destruction of our most cherished values-there is no need to do anything. We need only do nothing except what comes naturally - and breed. And how easy it is to do nothing."
--Dr. Isaac Asimov, biochemist and science writer (in this 1966 interview he predicted that world population would reach 6 billion around 2000. Most leaders dismissed his prediction as outrageous. Population passed 6 billion in 1999.)
Carrying Capacity
To live a typical 2005 lifestyle in Rhode Island, USA, every year we provide for an average person:
100,000 kilograms(liters) of very clean water,
1000 kilograms of food, including a lot of meat and exotic food such as oranges, etc. that cannot be produced here in RI.
500 - 1000 kilograms of gasoline for transportation, imported.
the equivalent of another 1000 - 2000 kilograms of gasoline in the form of electricity, imported or made from imported fuel
tons of other industrial supplies such as sulfuric acid, steel, cement, commercial packaging, copper wire, industrial cleaning agents, plastics and other resins, cement, petroleum based dyes, glues and fabrics, etc., etc. Nearly all of this must be imported from outside RI.
disposal systems that handle tons of solid waste, and clean and recycle a vast amount of dirty, unsanitary water for each person in the state.
Whether the carrying capacity of the Earth is a dystopian 40 billion or 2 billion, one thing is absolutely not in dispute: the more humans there are on the planet the more damage is done to the ecosystem and quality of life of humans.
Politics:
The United States population growth is:
United States 0.894% (2007 est.)
Even this high rate of growth isn't a threat to the world. At a little over 300,000,000 our population isn't a threat to carrying capacity. Except for this one small factor; because we use an abundant amount of electricity, fossil fuels, and other materials to maintain our quality of life I posit that one American life equates to many more lives of 3rd world citizens(as far as carrying capacity is concerned).
Political courage is needed either to A) reduce our consumption of natural resources, B) curb our own population growth or C) to engage other world countries to do as China has done and curtail their population growth.
It is remarkable to me that every year we come closer to disaster as the world population increases exponentially and no one talks about it. It is as though the problem doesn't exist!
I see documentaries on television about the eminent depletion of oil and global warming to the cows come home. There have been panic about nuclear war and a cold war that lasted 40 years and costed the world untold millions of lives (Korea, Vietnam, miscellaneous skirmishes) and trillions of dollars. Yet nothing on population growth.
We progressives should begin to demand the candidates address this important issue. Global warming cannot be fought without first reducing the current human population (which is nowhere close to stopping its exponential growth). So why talk about global warming without the population discussion? And how do we achieve the VITAL goal of reducing growth?
And if no one has any answers and does not even want to engage the problem then I worry for the survival of our species.