Feb. 10, 2009 (www.mountainsentinel.com) -- I
have been asked to write about overpopulation as part of an effort to focus
awareness on this problem.
Overpopulation is a very serious problem. Studies suggest
that without fossil fuels the Earth can only sustain one third of its current
human population. The United States
could sustain two-thirds of its current population. Humans have cooped the
majority of the planet's photosynthetic capability, including all the prime
agricultural real estate. The rest of the biosphere must make do with what is
left.
We need to change attitudes toward procreation. Certainly,
every baby born is a miracle, but then so is everything living. This does not
justify popping out babies irresponsibly. Currently every baby born is stealing
the necessities of existence from other living things, increasing the portion
of the planet's carrying capacity that is shifted to humans. We are coming
on a time, as resources go into decline and humanity's share of the carrying
capacity can no longer be expanded, when every child born must compete for food
and livelihood with other human beings.
We can say that attitudes must change, but horny teens and
newly delivered mothers are not rational beings, not when it comes to sex and
childbirth. Nor can we expect society to change its image of procreation.
Consumer capitalism reveres the family, because parenthood
is the surest way to make people into obedient consumers. Any normal young
parent wants to do the responsible thing and provide for his or her children.
And who can deny their child the latest consumer geegaws so long as they are
within the parent's means? Young parents are quickly swept into the system,
working wherever they can find a job, going into debt to pay for their child's
needs, or becoming a recipient of federal aid.
Our media certainly does not discourage parenthood. On the
one hand we are bombarded with sexual imagery that pushes our libidos into
overdrive. Meanwhile the media presents us with an image of wholesome family
life as the norm. And the media has become the major sensory input from which
we derive our view of reality.
Religions, particularly Christianity, also encourage
overpopulation with their view of the sanctity of childbirth. Be fruitful and
multiply, they say. In their credo, a woman's worth is a function of her
ability to procreate.
Continued at www.mountainsentinel.com