Have we spread too far? Should we be taking individual responsibility for the size of the human race? What would happen if we enforced population control and what would be the best way to achieve a satisfactory decrease with the least damage to our varied cultures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation
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Education27% Voted for by Weydon, bob2314, Applehead.
Educating people is the best we can do. Education about protection will help stop accidental births. Education about overpopulation may help some people decide to have less or no kids in the future.
It will be difficult and slow though. If people have been dreaming their whole life of having 1 or 2 or 3 or a gigantic handful of little monsters (often somehow choosing in their minds the sexes of the kids), they will want to have them even if they identify the problem of the world.
Education is the only steps that should be taken though. Any outside control is dangerous. Self-control of this should only be ENCOURAGED, not enforced.
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Found Letter18% Voted for by Applehead, looking4realtruth.
In National geo stating that more than 850 million thats something like 0ne in seven people round the world don't have enough to eat. The UN World food Programme says "we are not winning the war. We need to find the long term solution."
Maybe it's time to think seriously about world population before starvation gets us all.
I have often tried to persuade myself to grow my own food, the worry that one day the huge supermarket that I rely on so much will not be able to supply anymore is a scary thought, especially as local producers would not be able to meet demands for the evergrowing populace here in the U.K. One day I may be able to talk myself into it hopefully before my children are suffering from malnutrition.
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No. There's Ample Room.18% Voted for by david13, Applehead.
The problem is that people don't realize that each individual person is God in human flesh. If people understood that, then automatically people's selfish behaviours would change resulting in an egalatarian world. We're spending billions of dollars to learn about the outer regions of space while we let children die of starvation. Humanity is a crime today.
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I agreeVoted for by Dwn.
And We should start by only letting those who fall bellow the poverty line have children, since both the US and UK governments are sure thats the smallest percentage of the populus.
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Lots of ?s to answer...Voted for by looking4realtruth.
Is the world overpolulated: Not yet.
Have we spread too far: Not yet.
Should we be taking individual responsibility for the size of the human race: Depends on where/how the children would be raised, their quality of life, and if "we" could support children.
What would happen if we enforced population control: That would never happen in America because no one would tolerate having restrictions on their ability to have children. Unless we literally were so crowded that the average person would favor population control. Then it would have wide, though gradual, acceptance. And of course we'd have all the problems China has relating to population control.
What would be the best way to achieve a satisfactory decrease with the least damage to our varied cultures: Do not allow anyone who cannot afford to have a child procreate. If they do, the state takes control of the child and the offending parties are sterilized and therefore prevented from having children. That might cut down on the number of unwanted children.
As a response to some of the above opinions: Educating people about protection is not enough. Even the most strict Christain children know what a condom is at an extremely young age. And even they sometimes don't have the self-control to use protection. Also, protection isn't 100%. (As you well know) Also, anyone educating young people about using protection is going to be seen as having an ulterior motive; whether or not one actually exists. Self-control should be enforced. This country as a whole has abominable self-control. It must be enforced by the state or any population control won't work. Paying people to be sterilized is an intriuging idea. But we would have to set caps on the number of people who could voluntarily be sterilized. No, we should not allow anyone below the poverty line to have children they cannot support for reasons mentioned in the answer to ?3. I agree with everything Applehead said in their post. We have enough food to feed the entire population of the Earth several times over. Like Dwn said, distribution is the problem.
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We are almost everywhere that is comfortably habitable.Voted for by Applehead.
Whether people like to admit it or not we are damaging the ecosystems around us. We have carved our way around the earth surface destroying the natural habitats of countless creatures. Our need to travel quickly is poluting our atmosphere at a shocking rate so the time has come to restrict our destructive behaviour and look for new ways living. Everyone should be trying to figure out how to cut down on their energy use and we should all be aware of how close to overpopulating the globe we are. I for one will always teach my children how to be environmentally friendly and to be aware of the lack of room we have left here in the U.K.
Population control is scary for some because they feel they are losing control when in fact the opposite would happen, they would be taking control and responsibility for their actions and the consequences. If people were educated about the dangers overpopulation could bring, like the lack of food, clean water and land they would have no grounds to stand on when disputing the need for control.
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Applehead
September 28, 2006
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