Overpopulation is a myth

These are some pretty good, and short, vids that show that overpopulation fears are vastly overblown and the real problem that should have us concerned is actually underpopulation.

Video Debunks Overpopulation "Myth" with Simple Math

FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, February 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Armed with basic math and a wry sense of humor, the Population Research Institute (PRI) has released the second in a series of YouTube cartoons designed to refute the "myth" of overpopulation.

The latest video deftly refutes the common misconception that world population is exploding, pointing out how fertility rates all over the world are shrinking exponentially - and even leaving humanity at the brink of a demographic winter.

“No one who views this video will ever be taken in by the myth of overpopulation again,” said PRI president Steven Mosher.

Joel Bockrath, PRI Vice President for Operations, said that the group launched the website behind the videos, OverpopulationIsAMyth.com, to provide a cutting-edge new resource against the overpopulation myth. “We’re very excited about this site," said Bockrath.

Read more: Life Site News

reply to post by FortAnthem


Whilst I normally would question the evidence of any organization which declares itself to be a:

... growing, global network of pro-life groups spans over 30 countries.

There is some evidence to suggest that the global population expansion is a myth ... though there is no doubt in my mind that the earth is reaching critical mass as to how many folks it can sustain, especially in concentrated local areas.

Empty Playgrounds: Global Populations in Decline

[edit on 18 Feb 2010 by schrodingers dog]

Frankly, I don't see how anyone can say that overpopulation is a myth. Perhaps an exaggerated problem that is not as near to the breaking point as some make it out to be -- but a myth altogether? No way.

Are there means to creating free, reusable energy and food in order to keep a population going indefinitely? Probably. But we are not there yet and the problem is that our population continues to grow while people are trying to figure out how. The longer it takes to figure it out -- the higher the population in the interim.

Further, one can figure out that eventually we will simply run out of space to put people. If you want to envision skyscrapers built on the ocean floor -- which is where people would eventually have to spread out to -- it won't work. Ocean life will be severely affected -- much like plant and animal life on land now -- and our entire eco-system will shut down.

Is this going to happen anytime soon? Well, of course not -- but so long as we have a positive growth in population each year -- which we do without a doubt -- it will eventually happen.

Edit to add: Keep in mind also that as the Earth changes -- in terms of melting glaciers, massive hurricanes, more earthquakes, eroding coastlines, etc. -- there will be even less land and resources for our current population. In other words, because of the cycle of the Earth (I believe global warming is a cycle), we are going to be forced to do more with less to begin with. I don't think that we are at the tipping point yet though. But to ignore that we will eventually get there is rather short-sighted IMHO.

[edit on 18-2-2010 by lpowell0627]

Earth has a finite amount of space, and that is further limited by how much space we can use before we kill off the environment responsible for our air, fresh water and food supply. Imagine if you were sealed in a room where you had to produce your own food and oxygen; two-thirds of your room would be taken up by either plants or equipment to generate oxygen and water, and you would need some way of producing food. While you might find a technological solution that takes up less of your room, you are then entirely dependent on it -- and it in turn is dependent on natural resources such as uranium and metals which must be extracted from earth. Your choice is simple: live in a world of massive impoverished groups waging war against the wealthy who live in machines, or cut back population so we can have normal lives and breathe outside without masks.

We can "fit" plenty of people on earth, but their resource needs will then choke the planet, as will their land needs and the amount of waste they generate. History tells us that we cannot implement a plan to affect all people in the next generation, so we must assume the status quo will continue in most areas, with all of its attendant waste and error.

Overpopulation is not a issue of the resources actually, its a issue of lifestyle.

Having a superstate, like the texas example, would be great...of course the rest of the US would have to be farmland to support that superstate. (warning, that statement is backed by nothing except opinion)

I think the ultimate problem for continued population growth is three fold...first off, pollution (land and atmospheric), power consumption, and finally it stagnates longevity science discussions...technology that would keep a person alive for potentially hundreds of years will be supressed until we have a better and cleaner energy source.

Personally, I would love a world that was environmentally conscious, politically neutral, and a size of 100 billion people living for hundreds of years dwelling mostly in supercities, keeping the woodlands uneffected...but until the power requirement and environmental impact issue is solved, then we need to stop massive growth (preferrably while we still have some forests lefts)

Population wouldn't be an issue if every human being had work to do so they could produce something.

Farming is a great way to start. People are hungry now so the best way to fix it is farming IMHO.

The world population only seems over-populated because certain steps aren't being taken to help human beings grow.

Life Style is a big part of it too. You have to have poor people to do all the crappy jobs you don't want to do.

The year I was born the planet had a bit over 3 billion people.
Next year the population clock will roll over to 7 billion people.

All that in less than 50 years seems like an explosion to me. I see no way to sustain such an immense growth rate, and it almost makes me wish for a global plague that cuts the numbers in half.

There is still around 10sq meters for each person available in an area the size of texas (696,200 sq kilometers). That is sheer size, now think of skyscrapers and vertical farms; sustainable enivromental management etc.

It is sustainable if correct methods are applied. e.g. Every single thing should be bio-degradable so in case of a major league fu*k up, as we humans are prone to, everything could be just left for the nature to take care of.

The reality we live in is simply stupid in many ways. I blame big corporations, small corporations and mostly every day indivduals. Every single person should be a fully councious representative of human race , insted of a half minded zombie (we have a lot of these :/ (cant say I'm that much better)). Voting not only with his dollar but well established feeling and facts of what is wrong and right.

Fact is alternatives exist, it dosn't have to be this way. There is 3 mil of us here in ATS, yet not much gets done, now does it ?

Another fact would be you and your oppinion maters... live a life you seek.

Thank you for the vids those were realy interesting.


EDIT: sry for the spelling

[edit on 18-2-2010 by Simple Life]

Did you know you could fit the entire poplation of china side by side on the Isle of White off the South Coast of England! look it up,peace

Over pop is when there are less jobs to meet those willing to work.

Just my 2 cent.

Hello I am new to the ATS board. I have been watching from the shadows since late January. After reading this thread I decided to post for the first time to add to a good discussion in regards to the state of the population in relation to the earth.

I will try to explain what my believes are in the use of certain terminology in the hope that people may understand more clearly what I am trying to convey.

I do not know anything to be the truth. I can listen to people who tell me what the facts are and I can read that something is factually this or that, but I can not know only believe that something is factual. Only when I experience a fact will I be able to personally understand and call it personal knowing. To elaborate. A fact is nothing more then the perceived truth. It is even better to say that the act of calling anything factual is to collectively agree that what we are perceiving is to an extent the same for everybody. At least on a practical level. I believe that anything that could be described as THE TRUTH cannot be described by any living human being on this planet because they are living human beings with a limited perception. So the truth does not matter only how we deal with the reality/illusion of knowing nothing for certain, but only believing we do and how we act upon it. The discussion of truth or false is therefore a fallacy. Then the essence of the discussion can shift to nothing more then cause, consequence and reaction. Keeping in mind the same refinements and nuances that are present in the words: truth, know, fact and understanding.

I am going to sum up the facts first and will then share my own understandings and opinions on the subject and the facts why I believe them to be factual or not.

Source look below the facts.

FACT 1
Every person needs to be replaced by another person over time to maintain a stable population. (This seems obvious.)

FACT 2 ( CIA )
For every 100 girls 107 boys are born on average.

Take fact 1 into account and the small majority of male births and you will find that every woman will have to bare 1 child to replace themselves, on child to replace the father and a 0.1 child to compensate for the male majority. This leads to a grand total of 2.1 children per woman to maintain a stable populace. At least. This only goes for the countries with low infant mortality rates. Those countries with high mortality rates will have to bare a maximum of 3.3 children per woman to maintain the population.

And all this only applies when not correcting for disease, famine, war, abortion, the people who do not want to reproduce and the people that can not reproduce

FACT 3
Theoretically based on space alone every human could comfortably live in Texas. Every human would have 1085 square feet at their disposal to live upon. Or rather 33 by 33.

Considering that Texas is not all that big compared to the rest of the world it seems quite revealing on how much space their truly is per person. To topple that they used the population that will be in existence at the end of 2010.

FACT 4 ( U.N POPULATION DATABASE. )
The world's population will peak in 30 years

I find this plausible, if you consider how much our live expectancy has risen in just a 100 years. Our current situation is unprecedented never before have so many generations lived beside each other on such a grand scale.

This is my source. overpopulationisamyth.com...

If you want to more clearly understand how population growth and decline works it is my opinion that you should read through the above stated source. Subsequently they draw upon sources like the CIA fact book and the U.N population database.

I found myself watching the video and reading through all the material several times to fully comprehend what they were trying to tell me, but in the end I think I combined the dots.

I personally have a strong believe that population only matters in a politically and economically sense because the system is not working.

[edit on 18-2-2010 by GamleGamle]

Continuing.

Most of the developed world is experiencing negative fertility rates. Meaning more people dying then being born.. This is being countered somewhat by mass immigration from poor countries into the western world. ( CONSPIRACY. )

source: www.indopedia.org...

MY OPINiON

In our current world their is but one driving force that dictates the structure of our society and that is profit. Their are 2 necessary steps to make a profit endgame style. First take out the competition and create a monopoly. (HAPPENED) Second create real or perceived scarcity to drive up the price of the product. ( HAPPENED. ) The people who came first took control. Their is no such thing as healthy economic competition.

Letting people believe that we are dealing with overpopulation, have no space, do not have the resources or not having the capabilities to produce food for everybody has created a situation where in TPTB can do whatever they want because they are in control of the resources.

With current technology we could feed everyone on the planet. If we would be free from patent and copyright laws we would be able to produce technology that would support our whole population ten times over if only everybody would just let go their fake castle in the sky where they are king and always right and never wrong.



[edit on 18-2-2010 by GamleGamle]

[edit on 18-2-2010 by GamleGamle]

[edit on 18-2-2010 by GamleGamle]

Science proves that overpopulation is not a myth. Solid matter can't occupy the same space at one time. Sooner or later ones go to give

reply to post by marsvoltafan74


Good day to you.

Why is overpopulation not a myth?

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
... though there is no doubt in my mind that the earth is reaching critical mass as to how many folks it can sustain, especially in concentrated local areas.
...........

Really?... Can you please show us "proof" that "the Earth is reaching critical mass as to how many folks it can sustain, especially in concentrated local areas".....

Please no "i have a feeling", or "my guts tell me so"....

If people were taught how to properly farm, and how to sustain farm animals allowing grazing, and farming lands to recover and switching locations for farming, and farm animal grazing, EVERYONE would have food to eat....

But the thing is that this would not benefit the rich people in the world who are in control, and of course a large portion of the Earth's population have no idea on how to farm, and many of them can't even afford to buy chickens to eat their eggs.

Even if you are living in an apartment you can farm some of your own food as long as you have a window and the sun's rays can enter an area of your apartment.

[edit on 18-2-2010 by ElectricUniverse]

Originally posted by marsvoltafan74
Science proves that overpopulation is not a myth. Solid matter can't occupy the same space at one time. Sooner or later ones go to give

What in the world are you talking about?..... Are people living one inside the other?.... Jebus...the nonsense some people come up with....

BTW, don't try to post any link to the law of conservation of matter because that has NOTHING to do with the subject at hand...

People are not living one inside the other, and there is PLENTY of space for people to live at....

The problem is that some people choose to stay where they live, while others "cannot" move even if they want to...

But none of that proves that "the Earth is overpopulated"....

I suppose that overpopulation and underpopulation are relative...

But honestly, when millions of people are going hungry, and cities are crowded and filled with disease...

I definitely know we're not underpopulated, not in my opinion, and if we're not overpopulated already we're dangerously close.

Originally posted by Quickfix
Population wouldn't be an issue if every human being had work to do so they could produce something.

Farming is a great way to start. People are hungry now so the best way to fix it is farming IMHO.

The world population only seems over-populated because certain steps aren't being taken to help human beings grow.

Life Style is a big part of it too. You have to have poor people to do all the crappy jobs you don't want to do.

The biggest obstacle to having an adequate food supply is energy. You can grow a great amount food in floors of a tall building but the energy required is extensive. If we can solve the eenrgy problem the food problem will take care of itself.

As for the crappiest jobs paying the worst wages you are absolutely correct. It is ass backwards. Those who do the crappiest, hardest labor deserve to be paid the most and not the other way around. We have protected people against survival of the fittest type physical threats, it is due time to protect them intellectual threats as well. Buyer beware only goes so far when the buyer doesn't have the faculties to be properly beware. It is up to society to offer that protection and instead we exploit that weakness for our own greed.

Thread title: Overpopulation is a myth


Myth or not, I don't find heavily-populated towns and cities, with their filth, crime and poverty to be 'pleasant'


It's not for nothing that small, well-maintained villages are considered idyllic

Everytime I hear about overpopulation I think of Thomas Malthus.

I believe he is the Father of the Overpopulation Myth.

He thought we were overpopulated.....300 years ago when he was living.

en.wikipedia.org...