global warming....again

[phaloides]

It is indisputible that the basis of global warming is overpopulation. If worldwide birth control is unachievable perhaps a part solution would be to let nature take it's course and stop all aid for floods,drought.eathquakes.civil wars and disease. If something is not done soon then the planet will become uninhabitable for humans and maybe all life will perish...

[Gevs1966]

It is extremely DISPUTABLE that the basis of global warming is over population.

The basis for global warming is the earths natural cycle. Mankinds contribution to the cause is a figure less than two percent.

[Lonnie]

I'm with Gevs on this, Global Warming, like Ice Ages, come round in cycles, if we are entering a Global Warming period, man has virtually nothing to do with it at all, one of the biggest culprits, if we are, are trees,

[Loosehead]

As above, man controls 2% of the Carbon. Check out the long carbon cycle, mankind has nothing to do with global warming. The earth goes through natural cycles over millions of years, we are but a blip in the vastness of time.

[noxlumos]

Whilst agreeing with previous posters that we are merely entering into a global warming cycle have you really thought about what you are proposing? Do you want to live in a world populated by those who offer no hope to their fellow man in time of urgent need? If you want to know about compulsary birth control I suggest you seek and out and talk to any chinese ladies, they usually have very strong views on the subject, and rightly so.

I don't personally want to live in a world where we have no regard for our brothers who are suffering just so that our own nest might be feathered that little more.

[Lonnie]

I have to agree with you noxlumas, regardless of our vitual non impact on Global Warming, we should still do our best for it, this planet is our home, and we look after our homes.

[gary baldy]

You should have a look at this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthus

You arent the first to think this.

[smithers]

the population of the world has increased from approx 1billion to 6 billion in 150 odd years. theres too many people on the planet and mother nature will wipe us out to save herself..

[WaldoMcFroog]

Ah, the old Malthus vs Boserup debate, Smithers! Malthus essentially says if competition for resources in a closed system becomes too great, disasters (i.e. wars, famine etc) will occur and adjust the population balance.

Boserup was the originator of 'necessity is the mother of invention' and is actually the preferred theory, though I've never quite been able to accept that. Malthus' theory (at the level I've explained it here) seems more intuitively correct, but my uni professors were adamant it wasn't...

[gary baldy]

I suspect waldo that your university lecturers were pinko lefties. Malthus was hijacked by the eugenicists and the Nazis to justify genocide etc so its not very cool to subscribe to Malthusian theories if you're a lefty!

[WaldoMcFroog]

You may be right, Mr B. I have heard it said my old place harboured the odd lefty or two.

I don't 'like' Malthusian theory, in that it doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside - quite the opposite, it just seems to be more instinctively correct, whereas Boserup seemed naive! Of course, to bring this back to the question, the thing is that we don't actually have limited resources at all, but the way we live and consume does create a defacto closed system.

Phaloid's solution seems to be a particularly callous brand of eugenics to me though; 'Hey, you know how we've got all the money, food and stuff, and you get exploited and we won't let you develop your economies properly and all that well known malarky? Guess what we've decided to do to you next... If only you'd have the sense to be born in the first world, eh?'

[qapmoc]

Well as overpopulation IS the biggest threat to the future of mankind etc.. that needs addressing above all else, obviously at some time in the near future population growth must come down to zero.
If you doubt this, it is easy to calculate that with the present growth rate the human race will expand so that within 700 years there will one person per square metre on the dry land surface of the earth, obviously this cannot happen so at some stage the growth MUST come to zero.

The question is how to achieve it with the least disruption to our fragile economic systems. Mind you what with Peak Oil which is here now, bird/human flu looming on the horizon and the US ''not ruling out'' a nuclear strike on Iran, the growth might come to zero a lot sooner than we all expect!!!

[SarCaustic]

Its true that the earth does have its cycles of ice ages and global warming, but mankind is speeding things up with deforestation, burning fossil fuels and much more.

[El D]

pshhh we're not going anywhere and neither is the planet. In the last 200 years we've made astronomical progress - in the next 700 I fully expect us to conquer the problems described above. e.g. we may crowd the face of the earth but we can build upwards, the future is huge arcologies.

[qapmoc]

well EI D, if you think the world has enough energy to allow humans to carry on our merry way as usual then you have not been keeping up with the world oil situation, Peak Oil is here now and the worlds energy supplies are downhill from now on. Many people believe that we will not have enough energy to run our civilisation for the next few decades let alone for another 700 years.

[WendyS]

I think the increasing population issue is a very complex one. Obviously the greater the population of a country, the greater the need for more resources to be used up to supply them with food, fuel, housing and other consumer goods which use up and pollute the earth. On the other hand, if a country doesn't have any resources to sell, how will it trade and supply the other necessities of life like health care & education, quite apart from supplying the next generation. However, when I see the rate at which the average person in a developed country swallows up unnecessary material consumer items (and then multiply this a hundredfold) when all the under-developed nations want to catch up I wonder where on earth all these resources are going to come from and whether mankind will eventually destroy itself by its greed and materialism. (And I don't exclude myself in this - I have only to look in my own cupboards and wardrobes and see all the items I hardly ever use or wear to know that my own personal habits need to undergo a change).