Is overpopulation of the Human race, a big deal?

Question

Should there be laws put in place to control our growth? Are you for or against this idea? Do you have a better solution, besides a mass murder..

Answer 1

Overpopulation is a big deal. When you have too many of a certain species living in a limited area, there will be competition for food, space, mates etc. Eventually it will lead to the death, not extinction.

If there are too many humans, the standard of living will probably deteriorate due to limited resources. And knowing humans, in the process, we'd probably cause the extinction of many other animal species in a bid to create more space and food. Overpopulation of the human race will thus adversely affect the environment.

In my personal opinion, I do not think laws should be put in place to govern the growth of the human race. It infringes on our right as a human being, as a living organism. Why should anyone force us to have 1 baby if we want to have several? However, I feel that perhaps some campaigning might help. China's one baby policy and Singapore's 'stop at two' come to mind.

Answer 2

Today we're literally eating up all the foodstock fishes in the ocean, and wildlife are being pushed into tiny "reservations" because of competition for land use. It's a big deal, we are fundamentally altering the entire ecosystem of the Earth, and it's not heading for a higher quality of life for either animals or man. Certain countries with a serious population problem have instituted laws, which may be drastic and ethically questionable, but have proven to be effective. Those that worry about the ethical issues of such laws should wonder about the ethical issues of people being allowed to make unlimited use of limited resources, and to have an unfettered number of children.

The first step towards controlling the population problem is for people to accept the ethical responsibility for keeping it down, and not assume that it's a given right to "having unrestrained use of the natural world", and "founding families of arbitrary size". People with large families shouldn't be celebrated while at the same time childless people are stigmatized. Improving the standard of living also encourages people to have smaller families, but it's a long term globalization problem in achieving that worldwide.

Answer 3

Your arguments and line of reasoning are based on fallacies and false information from people who wanted you to think human beings are bad. There is not an overpopulation problem. Human beings as a whole only live on about 1% of the earths land mass. In some countries it might go up to as high as 12%, but that is still pretty low. With regard to resources, when you look at practically every resource on earth, we pretty much always have more of everything every year. There are more trees and plants every single year. Heck, we have more trees and plants than people had 200+ years ago. We always pump and discover more oil every year and always have for over a century. Our food production always increases. We always mine and discover more mineral resources. It would be nearly impossible to point to any resource and say we have less of it. Health care is not a bad thing. Treating and eliminating disease and suffering is always good. Wanting people to die because of some self-hatred or ideology, that is bad.

Answer 4

I agree with Eugene. Over population is not a big deal. Inefficiency, waste, and corruption are destroying the standard of living for billions of people. More people is a blessing to a country, not a curse. That is, as long as they are industrious and willing to support themselves. When they turn to the government for help without a legitimate cause for asking(being mentally retarded, physically crippled, etc.) they become liabilities that suck taxes out of a government that’s already taking way more than it should from the honest, hard-working citizens that make up the nation.

For those who need a little elbow-room in the world, maybe the big city isn't the residence of their choice. I personally dislike big cities such as New York, NY, and Los Angeles, CA. Either way tho, the Earth has resources in plenty for us, all we have to do is farm them properly and use them wisely.

Answer 5

There are laws in place in China already. If you've ever flown over the US, you'd see more empty country than populated. The problem is more poverty and inefficiencies of food production in third world countries that is causing the problem -- not so much the birth rate. Look at Japan; it has one of the densest populations per square kilometer and the standard of living is quite high.

Answer 6

We're producing population faster than our ability to develop renewable resources and infrastructure to support the increase in population. (Sure, Japan has high population density... but it's not doubling its population every 20 years these days).

One solution would be "licenses" to have children. It's a bigger responsibility than driving a car, right?

Answer 7

We could have a war and kill 3 billion people ,would that do it ??