Planning for a Sustainable Human Future: Conservation, Population and Economy

So good to read a well written piece on why population matters. It is clear that all serious problems in the world have overpopulation to blame. Whether it's resource depletion, energy use or wars over water and oil, society cannot handle the massive growth in humans that we've experienced over the past several decades.

Sustainability is key. Reduction in growth must start now with the goal to get to that magic number where everyone is educated, gainfully employed and able to live a free life without fear of persecution or discrimination.

Anyone who does not consider overpopulation a serious problem is not a "real" environmentalist.

I've endowed vasectomy funds with three Planned Parenthood offices (Los Angeles, Eugene, OR and Pasadena, CA). If you want to make a serious effort to reduce the growth of population, not to mention have an effect on unwanted pregnancies that may result in abortions, then contribute to one of these funds Better yet, start one yourself with your local Planned Parenthood office.

Thank you for addressing and continuing to address this issue. It doesn't matter WHAT we do to reduce carbon emissions or reduce the amount of resources consumed if the population continues to grow at the rate it does.

Combine that with other countries wanting to live like the U.S (and its their right!) and you have a global catastrophe going to happen.

We definitely need to re-invent the economy, or to return to an older vision of a healthy economy based on equilibrium rather than growth. I'm glad you reassured us that you are not seeking Draconian solutions to the problem of overpopulation. Many people cringe and think of the China solution when they hear any mention of overpopulation.

Overpopulation is a serious problem, but in those parts of the world where education, opportunity, and some measure of freedom are available, it is taking care of itself. The United States and the democracies of western Europe, for example, are at or below a zero population growth.

Since where we live, families with a dozen children are statistically irrelevant, there is no need for us to look askance at those who are blessed with large families. There is no need for us to ask or tell whether the children are adopted or born to the parents. There is no need for a cookie-cutter Kantian universal ethic to be imposed either by government regulations or by moral censure.

Probably the best thing we can do to slow population growth is to support volunteer nongovernmental aid groups that are providing education and health services in impoverished areas of the world.

Meanwhile in the more developed world vacancies in the older population segments (the educated and affluent who are not replacing themselves) are being filled by immigrants, many of home bring traditional values that include large families.

It would be an odd twist of natural selection of the portion of the global population who care about the planet voluntarily vote themselves off the island.

I would like to offer another opinion on the idea of population control.

The author of this article promoted his ideas as part of a "spiritual vision". However, I hardly think anyone who conforms to some standard practice is "spiritual"- that sounds more like "religion" to me. The spiritual approach to conceiving children involves a deep sense of knowing if there is a child meant to come to your family (many women I know, like me, have had the sense that a child is waiting- check out books like "Conscious Conception", and "Soul Trek"). On the flip side, many people seem to have their 2 children as commodities. A house, 2 cars, 2 kids...

With current rates of infertility on the rise (some say up to 25% of college kids these days are infertile), and the fact that many people may not marry or will marry and choose *not* to have children, I think it is best left up to individual conscience as to how many children a couple should have. It may be more "spiritual" for some to not have any, and others to have 5. But to propose some across-the-board number for every family to aspire to? I am all for a more conscientious approach to child-bearing- but to me, this means each person doing some soul searching and making sure their motives and actions are pure- not conforming to someone else's ideal. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most simple-minded.

Mother of two WITH A THIRD ON THE WAY.

I think Bryan Welch is sincere in his ideas that logically controlling population is the way to go. As a Christian, I have to disagree. I believe that as Genesis 1:27 in the Bible KJV says, "God created man in his own image,..." In verse 28, God blessed Adam and Eve and told them to "multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion...over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." That doesn't mean that men and women should destroy the earth and not try to clean up global warming. It does mean that God intends man to continue to have children.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I know that God, our Heavenly Father, sent us here to earth to be tested, to see if we would obey his commandments and follow him. We are the literal spirit children of our Heavenly Father. He has many spirits that are waiting to come to the earth. They will be born to families that are dirt poor, if families with more means decide to "reduce the population." We are ruining God's plan by advocating that each family have 2 or less children.

We were not sent to earth to live in luxury. There is plenty of food and room for people on the earth if we share our food and money with the world. We need to be compassionate and caring for our fellow man and we will have enough to go around.

On another issue, I'm amazed the Mr. Welch has not published anything about the problems with too many older people when a population is reduced. Japan and Italy are already suffering the consequences of trying to provide for a large population of older people with few younger workers to support them. We definitely won't be able to have Social Security and Medicare if we reduce the size of our families. China also will suffer this problem in the future with its one child policy. Reducing the population is not the answer to the earth's problems.

Mr. Welch was trying to couch his article in Christian religious terms, but according to my beliefs, he's forgetting an important issue. God created the earth for man's use. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the Bible, in Genesis 1:28-29, God blessed man and asked him to have dominion over all animals on the earth and that every "herb" or "fruit" would be food for man. We believe that the earth was created for the use and testing of people. All people are literal spirit children of God, our Heavenly Father, and as Genesis 1:27 says, we are created in the literal image of God. God has many spirit children to send down to the earth. They are going to come to earth regardless of whether they are sent to a dirt-poor family, or a family of comfortable means.

If we people on the earth take care of our earth wisely, and share our money, food, clothing, and anything else we have with others, the earth has plenty to give everyone. We may have to use greener technologies, eat less food, live in smaller homes, or share our homes with other families. But if we follow God and his teachings, we will be blessed with enough to sustain us and others. We were not sent to earth to live in luxury, but to sustain ourselves and serve others.

The other major issue about population control that hasn't been published in the magazine is the problem with caring for our elderly when there are more elderly than young people. We certainly won't be able to sustain Social Security and Medicare when too few children are born. We need to look at the societies of Japan and Italy to see the great burden on society when there are not enough young people to work in the economy and support the elderly. We also need to watch China in the next thirty years and the societal problems when there are a huge number of elderly people and a much smaller group of young people. China also has the problem of more young men than women. What

The authors suggestion of forced reduction of birth rate is flawed as other readers have pointed out. The only way to reduce or stablized the population is to promote equality between men and women, and for women and girls to have equal access to education. In countries where women have basic human rights and education, the population has stablized and in some cases have been reduced. Where women have no education, and are granted no legal rights; the population growth has exploded. It has also been shown when a woman from an opressive society emigrates to country that offers these basic rights and education, her children's generation (the ones educated) choose to have less offspring. I also think that if given a choice, some women would choose to have one or none, and the rare others feel compelled to have more and would make awesome mothers for the next generation. If given the choice i do think that these anomalies would average out.

I believe that for a sustainable future, we do need to visualize it the way it should be and work toward that future, but I also believe that without education and universal justice those goals cannot be realized. We are interconnected: environmentally, economicly, socially, and i believe spirtitualy. Peace.

There is a basic methodical flaw in the article. If every couple were to have just two children. The human species would eventually die out. Just 3 children per couple and there is an ever increasing population. The conundrum comes in where it is impossible to have more than two children, but less than three children.

Lisa, your comments about China are so incredibly inaccurate it is comical. The official birth rate in China is 1.8 children per family, so obviously more than a few babies are getting past the government regulations. Forced abortion and sterilization are illegal in China. There were a few cases of overzealous officials, and these were blown out of proportion. The penalty for having too many children is a fine, and many people are weathy enough to pay the fine, or poor enough that the government can't do anything. The vast majority of Chinese see the need for lower population and support the population policy.

Compare China to other countries that don't have population policies. In other countries, you will find children starving and begging on the street. Is this preferable? In fact, in most places simply giving people reliable affordable birth control to allow them to have no more children than they can take care of would reduce the birth rate considerably.

People who think we can just reduce our rate of consumption don't understand that the impoverished outnumber us 10 to 1 and most of them will adopt our high consumption lifestyle if given a chance.

Jesus and his followers did not have children. If we care about ALL people like they did, we will do the same.

Any serious attempt to limit population growth will lead inevitably to unbearably invasive tactics toward human inhabitants, i.e. forced abortions and sterilization like the Chinese government has forced on its people. If a woman is blessed with more than one child, the Communist party operatives present in even remote village areas see to it that the child is murdered before or shortly after birth. What can we do? Regulate sex? Murder infants? "Euthanize" our elderly or imperfect? The imperfection of this approach is literally fatal.

Rather, we can re-examine our standard of living. If we saved our fossil-fuel rich technology for medical care only, and if most of us in "developed" nations lived like the Old Order Amish, things would quickly return to sustainability. But I don't see anybody giving up their conveniences. My family thinks I'm loony , but I would like to live non-electric, and not "need" so much! What if we decided we don't need air conditioning or petrochemical fertilizer or constant motor vehicle transportation?

By the way, as the wife of a man who also nearly died on a motorcycle, I have to question why anybody who cares about himself, his family, or this earth rides motorcycles for pleasure. Also, I detect a veiled disrespect for the "Judeo-Christian Bible". If you think the Bible values are passe', maybe you don't know enough about it. Please open your mind and read it carefully before it's too late.

I find it interesting that Mother Earth News felt the need to re-publish this article (albeit slightly longer than the original), reiterating again the need for population control. The original article was published only a few months back. With the original article, there was a huge outcry from readers either strongly against or supporting the idea of population control. I guess I can see which side Mother Earth News supports. The previous article is called "News from Mother: Three Mountains We Must Climb (at http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/Population-Economy-Conservation.aspx).

I had not read the article (till now), just the letters to the editor (Dear Mother)in the Feb/ Mar issue. I found it disheartening, how many close minded and knee jerk negative reactions there were. To me they are for whatever reason close minded in individuals. More worried about their own personal want's and desires, than what is good for the planet or the rest of mankind.

They can watch any number of nature shows, Feed The Children, ect... See the slums all over the world. Famines in Africa for what the last 20 or 30 years. It's all out in the open for all to see.

Gordy

It is a shame that this very important topic cannot be discussed without such turmoil. Is it only we few who see the beginning of the end?

I have been a reader/subscriber of MEN's since #1 and have always believed that it was my responsibility not to contribute to the booming population all over the world. Why oh why can't others see the folly of ignoring it?

Thank you for this fine article on what I agree is the main issue of our age, and the most difficult issue that humanity has ever faced. Controlling our population growth presents huge problems, and the new vision must include their solutions. Many aspects of our culture are based on constant growth such as pension systems, economic institutions and even our debt-based money system. There are many vested interests in continuing growth. But we must either find a way to live sustainably, or nature will do that for us in a way that is not to our liking.

Thank you, Mr. Welch, for being brave, independent and honest about the subject which appears to have offered your magazine [and readership] an interesting dilemma. Can you imagine? Who would have thought that a group of people that respect Nature, admire conservation and the exploration of cutting edge technologies, advances in 'back to the land' movements and obvious open mindedness could suddenly be unable to wrap themselves around this one? It is apparent that your staff may not have been prepared for the actions that have ensued because of your quiet 'suggestion' that we THINK about population control ["Three Mountains We Must Climb," December 2008/January 2009]. How opportune it is NOW that we face this problem not on the population issue but on the actual economic front. We are coming face to face with the issue which we may not fully understand and your article gives us the opportunity to put these two issues to the forefront. We can visualize success and now is the time...it is our evolutionary responsibility as a species...we have been presented a spiritual vision. Are we ready to see it?