How come none of the global warming people state the biggest real cause is overpopulation of the Earth?

Question

Its like these people don't want to state the main reason for Global warming, the massive overpopulation of the Earth? How can we solve this situation if we won't admit what the real problem is?

Answer 1

Actually there is a Web site, overpopulation.org, that has an extensive section on global warming:
http://www.overpopulation.org/globalWarming.html

Here's one example you can find near the top of the page:

We need fewer people to halt global warming
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/24/scigwarming124.xml
'Having a billion fewer people by 2050 to reduce carbon emissions would cost 1,000 times less than all the other options'

Many researchers involved in various aspects of climate research note that population is an issue (heck, even the Dalai Lama says we need to stop spitting out kids), but social engineering is a touchy subject and so far no one's been willing to be the messenger that gets shot.

Immigration is another key issue. Adding people and upgrading them to America's energy intensive and consumptive lifestyle will wipe out any savings possible through basic conservation measures. Try getting an environmentalist who tells you to change your light bulbs to acknowledge that.

No, th conversation hasn't even begun to get comprehensive enough, and it's questionable whether politicians could possibly muster the courage to include aspects like immigration control, let alone population control, before the problem became so obvious and desperate that any responses were too late anyway.

That's why some researchers are pretty pessimistic about our prospects for the upcoming decades.

One of the most eminent scientists of our time says that global warming is irreversible — and that more than 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/16/climatechange.greenland

No problem though, the earth is dealing with us. It's fascinating how it may dramatically reduce the population of the species that is damaging it, almost like an immune response to an infection.

Answer 2

I do think overpopulation is a definite problem. However, I don't think it's the biggest problem with regard to global warming. The US doesn't have the highest birthrate, but it uses the most resources. Many countries in Africa have a very high birthrate, but don't use many resouces. It's how many each person uses. If every person used as many resources as the average American, we'd run out pretty quickly. That said, with all of the droughts, food shortages, energy shortages, and natural disasters were are likely facing in the upcoming decades, it would help if people had smaller families rather than big ones.

Answer 3

Well because religion and popular culture dictates that "man should go forth and multiply". A lot of people take that stuff seriously. I believe in AGW but there's no way in hell I'd get into an argument stating that we need to cut population in half to prevent AGW. It would probably work but the cost would be far too high.
The answer lies in moving on from a fossil fuel based/carbon dioxide emitting civilisation.

Answer 4

Overpopulation is just one of the related causes of global warming. We could have far more people emitting a lot less CO2, just as we could have a lot fewer people emitting a lot more. Overpopulation brings with it other environmental issues that threaten the planet in other ways.

Answer 5

Because overpopulation is not something we can change unless you want to go around killing every other person you come by. Instead, they focus on matters that we can change so we can see real progress.

Answer 6

Money cannot be made off of overpopulation like it can with buying carbon offsets. Simple Economics.

Answer 7

It's not. Global warming is accelerating at such a rapid rate that we'd have to cut the human population in half to stop it. We emit 6.2 billion tons of CO2 each year while the natural carbon cycle is capable of absorbing 2.9 billion tons.

Basically we would have to cut the population by 53% if we took no other action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The problem is not so much overpopulation as it is the consumption of fossil fuels by the population. If we could reduce individual fossil fuel consuption, we could solve the global warming problem without decreasing the population.

Answer 8

Because man-kind is retarted, we should all just parish and die.

sorry.

Answer 9

kill!
War!
Die!