Future Demands of the Human Species.

Naturescapes are being destroyed for Urbanscapes, as the human species population expands, and Urbanscapes increase in size and density.
And humans have not even begun to address the problem of their expanding population…globally.

We all agree, that by far, the human is the most dominant among all species.   And we (at least most European descendants) believe we have dominance over the Biosphere.  

That is wrong….perverted.

We have the power spoken of in Genesis1:28:    Reproduce, subdue the Earth and have dominion.   And BTW…I am a Christian .  Regarding the original matter that exploded in the big bang….where did it come from? Of course, nobody has proven any theory as to its origin.  I choose to believe that it, and the big bang, were created.  But I refuse to take Genesis literally (and I have that right).   For if the Universe was created, why would a Creator approve of us destroying the island called Earth that we live on within this Universe?

If nothing improves in our regard for the Biosphere, … the human species will begin to find it necessary to "convert" (destroy), by eminent domain (if you will) those natural systems that remain…..in order to feed this expanding human population.  Yes folks, that means our nature parks.  It is coming unless we begin to stop the rate of human growth.   We need to reach zero human pop growth. 

Hey, what's more important…..Humans or nature ?  Because apparently, humans in modern society, "the developed world"  (what an oxymoron that is!) refuse to see themselves as part of nature anymore.    Aborigines in all societies still do (and always have) see themselves as part of nature.  

So, as humans become more urbanized, don't they become more arrogant and more disrespectful toward nature?  And don't they see themselves as separate from nature?  

HUMAN POP GROTH
We must Save the Children!  On another NSN posting I was criticized for a comment directed at Save the Children.  But I was not criticizing the organization or children.  In fact, I absolutely adore children.  As a result of my comment, I was told that it is not the children's fault.  Well, of course it is not the children's fault.  We cannot designate where we will be born or if we will be born.  

But adults make decisions that determine at what rate humans are born onto the Biosphere.  And their lack of control is destroying the Biosphere.

Here are a bunch of graphs showing human population growth on the only Biosphere that humans have:

https://www.google.com/search?q=graph+s ... HgodpDIOQw

Oh wait a minute:  The super rich (among them the industrialists and their rich cronies) are working toward developing a means by which THEY can escape the Biosphere and populate…maybe Mars.  So, I see….that makes it all justifiable.   This one must be destroyed so to make it absolutely necessary…urgent... to get to the next one.  Is that it?



 

Just think of how bad things would be without contraceptives!!!

pleverington wrote:Just think of how bad things would be without contraceptives!!!

Maybe better as only intelligent beings use them.

Muse's "The 2nd Law" is very appropriate in this context:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/muse/the ... nable.html

Basically we are doomed to extinction because we are hellbent, as a species, on endless growth - heck, we have political parties, countries, and religions in this world that feel that the way to "win" is to make as many babies as possible... The entire world economic system is based on growth. Some population models have the human race peaking at about 9B people and then starting a decline as we simply do not have the resources, and will not have the capability of either manufacturing them or getting them from the asteroid belt or wherever in time. At the current rate of growth, 9B will happen in many of our lifetimes - it's mind boggling that when I was born in 1960, the population of the Earth was just 3B and now it is 7.4B. That is more than 100% growth in just a bit over a half of a century. In contrast, in 1915, or one century ago, the population was just under 2B, we have been on an exponential growth curve which is completely unsustainable.

I think in the end, the law  of nature will rule as it always does, and this Muse's second law seems rational enough to me to be a very integral part of the law of nature. So we will diminishing in numbers someday, perhaps greatly so, and nature will adjust it self accordingly, but at the same time certainly many humans will survive. The usual wars, disease, starvation will mostly do the trick, but isolation, loss of civilization, anxiety of survival mode will also play a part. That's a doomsday scenario I know, and maybe the powers that govern will wake up and address the overpopulation problem before it's too late. But if not, nature knows what to do, as it has always done for 3 billion years. Any species that over proliferates to the point that it annihilates it's food sources will succumb itself. I suppose it would be rational to say as humans we will find ways to feed ourselves despite our numbers and despite the naturally occurring resources because of our technology, so we can go a lot further than animals could, but still, is that what we want to happen? We have a choice....Unfortunately the rest of the natural world has to take what we give them. They have little to no choice....
 
I believe the US population is growing mostly because of immigration. So overall on a worldwide basis the US is not the problem, those immigrants are just changing their respective location, however that does affect our locality. So how will India and China ever feed it's people without decimating their environments or receiving product from nations such as the US?? Seems to me we already are fighting our extinction and have been for decades as we try to feed the world. Shouldn't that fact be a big clue???
 
It's a huge topic with lot's of angles to be looked at , but certainly one in which we all should be deeply concerned about. Perhaps if the subject came up more it would be looked at more. As EJ made point, our economic system only works with growth, and this is what controls everything basically. So how would we change that unless we accepted a new philosophy of life?? (I know there I go again). What economic model out there would be an alternative I cannot imagine.
 
One thing I am convinced of though for sure, if we as a species do not work towards getting things right the forces that be... will..., and those forces won't give two hoots about us. Reality will catch up to us in a big way..
 
 
 
Paul
 
 

Wikipedia's treatment of Human Overpopulation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_overpopulation

Overpopulation has been a 'hot topic' in India for a long time now. I remember growing up in the 60s, we used to say India is adding an Australia to its numbers every year. The government did try very hard but went about it the wrong way by forcing government employees to have vasectomies by way of holding back promotions etc. Needless to say it was so unpopular that they lost the election. The subsequent government went the other way to appease their vote banks.

Then there are issues that are more to do with social and cultural norms, including religion, which play a huge role. Of all the developed nations in the world, the highest fertility is in Saudi and Israel. There are both religious and political leaders that truly believe in having more people following them, the numbers game is very important, it keeps them in power.

Poverty is entrenched in many parts of the world and there is very little incentive to do something about it. Lots of poor people means lots of cheap labor, as we've seen in the various garment factories in Bangla Desh that keep burning down.

We are all to blame - the rich for wanting to keep having the latest and greatest at throwaway prices, the poor for wanting to survive and increase their family, since any member of which may die at any time. The industrialized world has learnt to curb its procreative drive (while continuing to increase its appetite for material goods) while the developing world follows its biological programming and corrupt governments continue to exploit its citizens.

There are no easy solutions. You cannot simply ask people to stop reproducing. Politicians, community and religious leaders - and not just from the poor countries, all have to get involved, put aside their differences and local agendas and take a hard stance.

In a polarized world, impossible to do something like this, just like gun control in the US. 

Pradeep