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Sex, Sexuality and Reproduction Membership
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Overpopulation
Support for the births of more children and reproductive technologies is not causing overpopulation. There is no overpopulation. Population growth is not the problem, the distribution of wealth is. For example the "50 000 workers at the Yue Yen Nike Factory in China would have to work for 19 years to earn what Nike spends on advertising in one year. Wal-Mart's annual sales are worth more than Haiti's entire annual budget; Disney CEO Michael Eisner earns $9,783 an hour while a Haitian worker earns 28 cents an hour; it would take a Haitian worker 16.8 years to earn Eisner's hourly income; the $181 million in stock options eisner exercised in 1996 is enough to take care of his 19,000 Haitian workers and their families for 14 years." (Naomi Klein "No Logo" p352) The idea of overpopulation is a way of blaming the poor for environmental damage, instead of changing the lifestyles of the rich who cause it and do not suffer the damage. Environmental resources are not scarce, though compassion and thought for others are. The inequalities in consumption between rich and poor are significant. The richest 20% of the world's population accounts for 86% of private consumption expenditures, while the poorest 20% account for only 1.3%. The richest 10% consume 58% of total energy, 84% of all paper, 45% of all meat and fish, and own 87% of all vehicles. Although the rich are the world's main consumers, the environmental damage that is caused by growing consumption has the heaviest impact on the poor. On a local level, affluent groups can usually afford to move away from problem areas, leaving the poor to bear out most of the costs. Chemical plants, power stations, major roads, railways and airports are often sited in low income areas. On a global level, we can see a similar process at work: soil degradation, deforestation, water shortages, lead emissions and air pollution are all concentrated within the developing world. (Giddens, Sociology, p612) Poor people must maximise the small resources they have, thus exhausting them and leading to a vicious circle. With little resources available, infant mortality is still high amongst the poor. The enormous waste of resources has got to be stopped. Health, education, and basic needs must be available to all; not to mention avoiding wars and stopping the other destructions of humans. Escape from our current condition of mass-death, mass-suicide, destruction and rapine waste is imperative if we and our children are to survive. Scarcity and exhaustion caused by too many people are not the problems, rather the people in power who own or control resources are. It is the poor management of populations by corrupt and inept political systems that is causing serious damage to the eco-system. The distribution of needs and wealth among are 6 billion people on Earth are unfair and unsustainable. Waste and pollution must be recycled or avoided, clean fuel and energies must be used. Other animals must not be needlessly hunted, eaten or destroyed by the human animal. The utter corruption and profound lack of vision in high places must be cleaned away and it's waste recycled. Despite the growing crisis, we do not seem to care. But when we throw out re-cyclable rubbish, with throw away a little of our future and our children's future. The ageing population and low birth rate of Europe means the population will level off and then drop rapidly in around 50 years. The birth rate in England and Wales has fallen to an all-time low, official figures show. The fall in population will result in economic crisis. There won't be enough young workers to support the old. Ageing populations are forecast to bankrupt tax-funded state pensions throughout the continent over the next 30 years, as the number of people in work falls and the number of pensioners rises. Unless politicians hike contribution rates, Europe's pensions schemes will run out of cash. Today we are living in debt and the future will pay.
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