Population Growth Vs Climate Change

January 24, 2023 Sturm Enrich 1 Comment climate change, Evolving Show, Evolving Show podcast, Population Growth

We have entered the era of climate change. We don’t think but KNOW that climate change is caused by human activities. We are facing an impending climate emergency. EVERYTHING depends on the steps we’ll take RIGHT NOW.

Large-scale issues are difficult to apprehend. Imagine a minor kitchen fire, instead. So, there is a minor fire in your kitchen.

What would be your number one priority? To arrange for and hold a meeting? Or to extinguish the fire? (When it comes to climate change, we’re holding more and more meetings while the “kitchen fire” is spreading throughout the house, so to speak.)

What would be your number two priority? To go about business as usual or to prevent another fire from happening? (Right now, we are managing climate-caused “natural” disasters and going about business as usual.)

Weird, isn’t it? As if a spreading “kitchen fire” wasn’t a cause for alarm.

The answers to addressing the causes of climate change are common knowledge.

– To eliminate or – at the very least – reduce carbon dioxide emissions, we have to lower our energy use and switch to clean, renewable energy.

– To control population growth. The limited resources of Earth can’t support an unlimited population, especially with the inherent use of industrial agriculture, factory livestock farming, and land and energy demand.

– The long-established principles of the market, business, and industry have to be phased out, ASAP. The current industry models are unsustainable. (Their dependence on fossil fuels and the ecocide they commit to generate profit put our survival – meaning, the Earth’s survival – at risk.)

Little by little, the awareness of the need for renewable, clean energy has been raised. Big business is pretending hard that it is becoming a bit more eco-friendly. Exceedingly few speak about population growth control. No person in a position of authority dares to raise the issue for fear of the public’s reaction.

The fairly recent Covid restrictions caused widespread anger and in some countries, civil unrest. Imagine being told by the government – no, not to wear a facemask but – to use less energy, stop going to work, stop all travel, and source food locally. Here’s a revolution in the making, right?

Now imagine what would happen if people were told not to have more than one child (quite reminiscent of the past Chinese restriction!) or to stop having kids altogether! Most people find the very thought offensive. Many would be outraged. But can you imagine having prepared dinner for four and instead having 385,000 hungry people show up to eat? (385,000 babies are born every single day!) That’s what is happening to the Earth right now.

Controlling population growth is essential to our survival. Think about it. If a couple doesn’t have children at all, they don’t just stop population growth, they reduce the population. If a couple has just one child, they don’t contribute to population growth either, they cut the population by half. But the moment a couple has two or more children, the population continues to grow.

New parents – even before their baby is born – envision their child’s future. It’s all parents’ hope that their baby will have a better life than they did. Today, facts don’t support such hope. There is no reason to think that tomorrow will be better than today. There is every reason to think that tomorrow will be challenging.

Among the immediate consequences of population growth are the acceleration of climate change, increased carbon emissions, and ongoing environmental destruction resulting from increased demand for food, shelter, and goods.

The long-term consequences of population growth are even more dramatic and could range from widespread famine and mass deaths to climate catastrophes, and the Earth becoming entirely uninhabitable.

In plain English, there is not enough Earth to support its existing population (supporting it causes massive environmental damage and is not necessarily great for our health). Any further population growth will exacerbate our current problems and lead to climate change-driven mass migrations and political conflicts.

The principles of our civilization are faulty. Our understanding of our place within the ecosystem is faulty. The popular understanding of living with climate change is faulty. We won’t sail through it smoothly without making and accepting significant changes.

Switching to clean, renewable energy and thereby reducing carbon emissions is not enough. Don’t expect life to continue as usual. Our new “normal” will involve controlling population growth; lowering energy use; fundamentally changing our habits; massively reducing consumption, and travel.

The transition into sustainability won’t be smooth or fast, either. It took us 300 years to inflict the damage that caused climate change. It will likely take longer than 300 years to rectify it, heal it, and change the course of our civilization.

Is there another way? Sure. Make yourself comfortable, deny reality, and enjoy life.

By the way, are you familiar with several highly-advanced civilizations that existed on Earth before us? All of them vanished and we still wonder why. Would you care to guess?

I don’t have the answer, either. But perhaps they too encountered problems that required immediate action and chose to ignore them.