Overpopulation is an ongoing threat to all ecosystems, just as an ash cloud is a real and present threat to the earth's temperature. But don't think the solution is all down to getting down to the right numbers .
That sort of problem solving approach is not worthy of your mind; or of the science of resilience in practice .
Nature has many ways of resisting overpopulation, but they are often slow and even very harsh. We therefore can and should interfere and do better than Nature itself will do on it's own.
We can and should do better because we can intervene with wisdom and care - it used to be called husbandry .
Many smart arses of history want to take the easy road and get rid of people, but not here. And we can't , like God can't , stop people having fun and choosing to have families - at least not here
So what are our options ?
We should be actively thinking about how to build resilience into our world because our understanding of it means we can prevent , if we want to, overpopulation - but only where it's really a threat ( see different colors) .
As we are all those called to husbandry ( both mind and practice) of the ecosystems of which we are part, we have many practical choices to deal with this risk. Overpopulation is an ongoing threat to all ecosystems just as an ash cloud is a real and present threat to the earth's temperature , but it's one thing we can plan to avoid.
This forum is not big enough to explore all the options, but I insist you resist the blanket use of one ;The pill. To say that imposed birth control using the pill is the only and most effective way is to worship technology and not science ; crude machinery and not ecology in practice;
It could take us back to the days of the quick fix and dilettantism of the eugenic societies . ( Such meetings may not be formally labelled now but they do meet and make decisions that are not canvassing all the scientific options and in some cases take away the personal freedoms the West has taken for granted for eons )
The pill and sterilization should be considered as good gifts to us in the dilemma, but the integration and understanding of all options must come first ; respect for freedom of choice must come first , This last one requirement is one of the hardest to retain yet we already have the obscenity of interjectors not educating individuals to make their own choices here-- laws of "disease" control have been imposed in Victoria in 2021.
If you think human beings have no other choices, please look at the incomplete list of options at the end of this note . See why blanket lower number solutions (BLNS) will not work ( and therefore be WRONG ) add your own.
Our generation of leaders , I would suggest, are often prone to acting immorally by overstating the risk and danger and threat ,.That has meant in recent years that the only legimized actions are not those that make sense in each ecosystem ( the right and respectful way ) but those that simply focus on targets and numbers . If the new control marxists got their way again , it would still fail ; short term gain ,long term pain.Their picture is not big enough ; make sure yours is !
BLNS union movement is a profoundly simple and stupid way to try to solve problems Precision in decision is the ONLY way to make our work, work with nature; Competent engagement not subservience
Resilience resists such a shallow minded practice, but does not ignore numbers . Like the proper use of the law, its there to provide a mirror ,curb and ruler to real dangers around the corner ; the absolute need to slow down or stop doing something . There is a point where elasticity gives way, but before that don't "kick against the pricks" or complain of the pain if you ignore the signals .
Individual Ecosystem Options
I have used this world map of actual fertility rates ( 2.1 is the replacement rate) to illustrate some of the individual challenges.. But of course they apply right down to households and their survival day to day .Don't be a dumb shit and solve the world's problems by insisting on right number technology .
1. Population will drop naturally if alternatives to subsistence agriculture ( esp in savannah ) continue to be supported. This is most important . India ,for example, could go blue sooner than we think .
2. Nations without a pop problem can help those with a problem of adjustment ( Over 10 % of the workers in Australia are on overseas visas. Europe also benefits greatly from migration
3. The growing % of older people means that a certain greater growth amongst younger people is necessary for communities to thrive . ( problem right across the world????)
4 , There remains amongst some city people an unjustified fear that all industrial agriculture is damaging the earth.( like a religion and called so -misanthropy ) This unfair fear can only be effectively dealt with by having the oversight that has been denied in recent times. That is
applied eco scientists on the ground are still needed to help ensure unacceptable risks to future generations are NOT taken ( called planning and there are none of us left ) - In a huge step backwards, successive Australian governments have used the resources once dedicated to governance to support that population to provide largely uncontrolled expenditure on token targets in the cities.
5 , There are growing numbers of people who reject industrial agriculture and modern interference. In their ignorance and panic ,they are calling for a return to a much riskier and harsher form of slavery called subsistence farming . It must be the job of all earth citizens to reject this and find a way to readopt the former ( 4),,,, It works.
6 , Western countries , if they continue to fail to link people into productive work, will fail to build the trade and creatives industries that can help release people from "5 "to a more stable economic system .
7 Western economies, if they continue to carelessly cultivate dependency and resist accountability may well continue to encourage women to have more children than their ecosystem can support . Such threats are likely to make a really big impact on the welfare of our children and their work and study opportunities in the future.
8 Civilizations can fail first from things other that the citizens sense of the inadequate space they occupy.
Tyrants, using the fears of the people , have justified great evil on the nonsense that they need more resources than they have .Think about Japan both now, historically and during their hysterical period.
You will do good if you are a thorough realist about the myths cultivated in people's minds .
9 Is it not hypocrisy for the rich ( green and blue ) to tell the poor to do without- to have less children when the prospect of new forms of employment other than subsistence agriculture can and should be supported in both eco surplus ( another topic f
or another day) and numbers of young people .
