The Constant Effort to Claim Population Growth is Good


Of one thing there is no doubt, each person added to the population uses resources. Those resources are not infinite. Each net addition to the earth needs food, housing, recreational space and transportation. Nevertheless, there are bloggers who try to downplay this problem or pretend a.) the earth can absorb infinite amount of population and b.) the problems of declining population are greater than those of over population. 

The link cries an alarm about falling birth rates and carries on about the problems of an aging population. I don't want to deny the shortages of labor that will or do exist as people like me live longer and the percentage of young people to care for us gets smaller. However, when one puts the problem of fewer people in the labor force to care for the elderly against shortages of food and housing plus the potential for social unrest it doesn't score high.   

The link plays with an old issue. It is that population numbers are not an important force in climate change. It is instead our consumption habits. If all of us cut back on consumption of goods and services that emit carbon, we could support more population. That is to say a bigger house could take in more people. 

The old argument about too much consumption goes back to the 1960's. It is correct to the point of being self evident. What will be done about it? Nothing. Our country is so politically diverse it is all but impossible to change what or how much people consume. Yes, there have been efforts at the edges like automobile milage requirements and now promotion of electric vehicles. Big changes, like less travel, housing and work locations and many others are not waiting to happen.

We are left with but one way to save the planet, fewer people. Birth rates were low before the pandemic, they are lower now. Births in the U.S. are now below replacements of deaths. Immigration filled up the gap but it too has fallen. Trump was opposed to it.

Falling fertility rates is one of the hopeful signs for a better future for humans on this earth.

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