No one really seems to talk about overpopulation as a real problem and it kind of freaks me out. Climate change, micro plastics, war, economy is all bad, but the amount of people that keep multiplying with no bother in the world is crazy. Factory farms are already out of control and it’s just gonna grow exponentially.
I think people are freaking out about very low reproduction rate and aging population in rich countries more than anything, since that’s the demographic trend right now. Also factory farming is not like an inevitability of high population density, that’s just profit and lobbying. (I put the usual land use per kcal graph at the end, it’s not perfect because of the reality of arable land…etc, but still a very good reference)
Also to be fair, one country did try to handle overpopulation (and more broadly the risks of a sudden boom in population) and have been dragged through the mud for it for like 40 years.
Amazingly, the same countries who are at risk due to aging/decreasing populations are the ones now refusing as much entry of people from other countries as they can.
Cultural replacement fears and international bad actors who are happy to pour money to the right wing influences, because they are often nationalistic and against international unions that form power structures that are always against someones benefit.
maybe start with not incentivizing the production of children with all the tax cuts and loans and whatnot. and revise the pension system so that it finally does not rely on working like cancer
id argue those incentive programs are, themselves, eugenics policies, but I also think ending them is complicated, as doing so in one jurisdiction and not in others is, you see, eugenics.
No one really seems to talk about overpopulation as a real problem and it kind of freaks me out. Climate change, micro plastics, war, economy is all bad, but the amount of people that keep multiplying with no bother in the world is crazy. Factory farms are already out of control and it’s just gonna grow exponentially.
I think people are freaking out about very low reproduction rate and aging population in rich countries more than anything, since that’s the demographic trend right now. Also factory farming is not like an inevitability of high population density, that’s just profit and lobbying. (I put the usual land use per kcal graph at the end, it’s not perfect because of the reality of arable land…etc, but still a very good reference)
Also to be fair, one country did try to handle overpopulation (and more broadly the risks of a sudden boom in population) and have been dragged through the mud for it for like 40 years.
Amazingly, the same countries who are at risk due to aging/decreasing populations are the ones now refusing as much entry of people from other countries as they can.
Cultural replacement fears and international bad actors who are happy to pour money to the right wing influences, because they are often nationalistic and against international unions that form power structures that are always against someones benefit.
any policy you can implement to address “overpopulation” is eugenics. so there is nothing (ethical) to do about it.
maybe start with not incentivizing the production of children with all the tax cuts and loans and whatnot. and revise the pension system so that it finally does not rely on working like cancer
id argue those incentive programs are, themselves, eugenics policies, but I also think ending them is complicated, as doing so in one jurisdiction and not in others is, you see, eugenics.