The Environmental Thread

[Gandalf]

Well said, Tito. I am all for people becoming parents as long as they consider the implications of what they are doing and know they have the means to do so. I have plenty of friends who are parents and the most is two. I am hardly going around berating them as they are intelligent people who have the means of raising their children and do an excellent job. There is simply no justification for 6 or 7 children. I understand it in the animal kingdom. I had my cat operated on so she cannot have children (eugenics yay!), but if she was out there in nature she would be having dozens of babies. I like to think that human beings actually do have the ability to be conscious of their actions and to consider the impact they are having. Isn't that ability what separates us from being animals who just want to eat, sleep, and reproduce? It really is not difficult to not have dozen children and it really is selfish to do so if you have no resources. Having 10 more children does not automatically lead to 10 more available jobs. Mechanisation is taking away many of the most menial jobs and over time more and more people will become obsolete and yet there will be billions more people on a planet even more exploited. It simply cannot end well.

[TitoFan]

Overpopulation, particularly in some areas of the world, is a real problem. It's just not a politically-correct problem to mention. It's much more PC to blame other things, such as the imbalance of haves and have-nots in the world. Unfortunately... none of this serves to resolve the very real issues of world hunger, sickness, and abject poverty that comes with uncontrolled births in a society that can barely afford to feed the people already there. Babies and kids suffer from malnutrition, disease plagues, and subhuman conditions all around. What to do about this? Celebrity picture-taking with tribal kids might work in some circles... but it's not the answer. Real solutions need rolled-up sleeves and the willingness to tackle the problem from ALL angles, not just the politically-correct ones.