March 7, 2010
To the editor:
The March 1 Daily News-Miner had an AP article with last paragraph: “Learning the lessons of Haiti is taking on added urgency because planners expect the world’s natural disasters to grow in scope and frequency as expanding populations crowd vulnerable coastlines and quake and flood zones. … ”
I would have liked to see a follow-on sentence regarding how stabilizing the world’s population would help immensely in reducing human suffering associated with natural disasters. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if folks would not be forced by population pressures to live in seismically active areas, on flood plains, in the path of potential lava flows, etc.?
There are more than 100 million women worldwide who don’t now have knowledge of or access to standard contraception services but would be happy to take advantage of them. One way to reduce the demand for abortion is to educate people regarding contraception.
These actions will do more than reduce the toll in human lives from environmental disasters.
It will also help us leave a sustainable world for our children and grandchildren. The UN International Conference on Population and Development concluded if all couples could have “the information, education and means” to create only the number of children they choose, “it would produce slower population growth, which in turn would improve the ability of those countries to adjust to future population increases, to combat poverty, to protect and repair the environment and to set the conditions for sustainable development.”
Slowing population growth can also reduce the growth in demand for goods and services, which in turn, can help our environment. Environmental resources are capital. As our growing world population depletes them to create wealth, we are stealing from our descendents.
By providing the means and education to underdeveloped populations to control their growth, we can not only aid our long-term global future but also help lessen the huge losses of life that accompany environmental disasters such as the one in Haiti. Limited space here doesn’t allow me to address other key sustainability issues.
controling populations size, make up and activity is the holy grail for political extremists. hitler on the far right showed us an example of how the extreme right wing maniacs would do it and in todays world the left wing maniacs are enboldened to seize control and run their own version of the holocaust. any time anyone pops up with an idea of how to make everyone in the world happy with some kind of population control, throw them in prison immediately. they are dangerous, dangerous people.
nix on the one world government idea. it would be total disaster (imo).
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Seriously though, the black plague heralded the renaissance and a marked improvement in the lives of the masses (in food, access to culture, opportunity and more) exactly because of the population decrease. If things get bad enough maybe someone will unleash a deadly virus and those who live to survive it will be better off.
I'd still prefer one world government that can ensure an end to poverty and starvation. Maybe start building colonies in space, at the lagrange points, Mars... aye tis fun to daydream no?
Do you disagree that the world is over-populated?
Do you disagree that contraception is a reasonable, safe, and easily provided method to limit family size?
If you disagree, then why not have that conversation?