Comments on: Birth dearth?

By: Reynir

Reynir — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:30:17 +0000

Thanks, I’ll definately check it out… I put it on my book list right after the one I’m currently reading. =)

By: Murray

Murray — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:58:43 +0000

Thanks for the input, Reynir.

You would enjoy Jeffrey Sach’s Common Wealth – Economics for a Crowded Planet where he identifies population reduction as a key to poverty reduction.

It’s an interesting book.

By: Reynir

Reynir — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:53:47 +0000

A drop in world population would be great… already at 6.7 billion we are putting an unacceptable stress on the Earth just to feed ourselves, let alone all the other consumption. Currently humans, our livestock and our pets are 97% of all vertebrates on the earth (by mass). That’s a sobering statistic.

(source: Paul Maccready On Nature vs Humans)

And there are many other frightening facts than that one… so I say let’s SPREAD THE WORD that the world population needs to drop. The only (non-evil) way to do that of course is to lower the birth rate. So spread the word that the birth rate NEEDS to go down and that people should feel PROUD, not guilty, for not having kids. Also, encourage those that sincerely want kids to adopt orphans from poor countries. That way they get to become parents, they perform a massive good deed for the child and the development of his/her country AND they do not overpopulate the Earth any further. What a massive win-win!

Oh and to hell with nationalism, it’s just primitive tribal xenophobia/chauvinism on a larger scale, and does almost nothing but harm these days when you think about it.

“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion”

(just to clarify possible misunderstanding, this is not meant to stipulate atheism, but rather to say that good will and good deeds should form the core of your religion, NOT corrupt sentiments like “convert or exterminate all those who do not adhere to our particular holy scripture”)

By: Tang Kim Seng

Tang Kim Seng — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 10:28:16 +0000

I think from the world’s perspective, any decline in world population would be deemed as positive ‘cos with less demand (i.e. people), resources (e.g. air, water, land) abound. Theoretically speaking, there’s a bigger piece of pie to share (assuming all things being equal). However, that same viewpoint may not be agreed by many countries which need to safe-guard their own existenace and serve their own self-interests.

Any underdeveloped country would not favour the idea of a population boom for obvious reasons. Everyone is struggling for survival, why make it worse with more mouths to feed ? For the more developed countries, their own existence may strive on people with good moral values for governance, people with creativity and imagination to prosper in businesses and enterprises, people with good education to serve the public at large, etc. Immigration may be the solution short of its own people (but not the total solution). Then, countries like Japan or Germany with a more homogeneous society may not like the idea of immigration to solve their manpower shortage problem. Singapore may be more accomodating in this aspect.

So in effective, there’s no one solution to address all the countries’ woes!