I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell that the West could employ such anti-population mesures as China does. The blame always seems to fall on immigration anyway, so there's little call for it. I heard (although it was a long time ago so this info might be out of date) that Japan has such excellent education and birth control measures (with teen pregnancy being virtually zero) that they are actually seeing a decline in population in areas. As always, we should just copy them.
I never knew many of these statistics and the incredible nature of the dramatic growth in the last 20 and 60 years. Very thoughtful and provocative video, as usual. Interesting to hear your views after your time spent in China. Not only would there be famine and disease, the amounts of fresh water and arable land for crop growth has somewhat finite limits, given present technologies and economies. I have no practical solutions to offer.
I think there should be a law stating that all females under the age of 25 should take some kind of birth control that isn't the pill (such as the implant or injection). This would stop teenage and young pregnancies and would slightly help the population issue as well as giving young girls, who would become mums, a chance in life.
A third of the planet is starving to death, a third is overweight and 33 percent is water lol. Just everyone eat a fat person we'd be sorted for a while. (FYI this is my silly answer to offset the sane rational idea I just posted that everyone is gonna call stupid lol no this one is stupid)
Ok this is a bit out there I know but how about we stop breeding? I know I know a hassle right? I mean we all want 9 children. It's ridicules point is "don't be a fool wrap your tool guys". As far as the energy thing goes I can't imagine penguins and polar bears giving a flying icicle about afew million wind turbines and solar generators on the two most uninhabitable places on earth. Then of course we just have to learn to share the energy
In my opinion we ought to volontarily control the population increase. Unfortunately this, should it be taken into consideration, could be more easily implemented in those areas where it is less necessary, namely the richest and more educated countries. I don't see much encouragement of doing this elsewhere by those organizations that work at relieving hunger and illnesses over the world. Don't you think they should?
I think that a limit to the amount of children a person can have would be beneficial for the planet. As for the use of fossil fuels, the human race has proven to be super ingenious, so I'm sure we'd find another way to power things if we had to. Plus, carbon emissions would probably decrease dramatically if we stopped using fossil fuels.
Even if, like Dan Brown said in his video, the population will even out, I think that there simply aren't enough resources to sustain us all. This is coming into the whole fossil fuel-renewable energy thing, but we need to start using other energy resources and use fossil fuels and other finite resources for things with fewer substitutes, like plastic.
Went off-track a bit there. Anyway, I don't think enough people realise how large this whole seven-billion thing is. It's so scary!
I live in Argentina, and nobody (at least from the people that I know) seems to care about this... If I talk about it they look at me like I'm crazy. Maybe because I say things like "I can't believe people still want to have 4/5/6 babies. We are more than enough people here. Does anybody think about the planet resources?". Yeah, I must be crazy.
I never really thought about it to be honest.. Alot of people would argue that birth control, like in China is hugely wrong against human rights and they have a very good point. And also I don;t think most western countries need birth control as they're populations aren't that huge but what they do need is some common sense and to really start conserving energy. I think the main problem of population does come from countries such as Africa and I think we should make it our jab to educate them...
Birth rate control isnt the answer. I read a series called the Shadow Children. It took place in the future where there're rules that said you could only have 2 kids. The third children were forced into hiding or population police would kill them. its fiction but its looking like thats where the worlds going
We cant view people as a problem. We can give incentives to use birth control and make it available to more of the world.
The vlogbrothers have a great video on the subject.
Many might view this topic as mundane, but your charm and humor make it incredibly more interesting.
I like the way you say things. Rather, just the way you present things.
Well done.
As for the actual topic, I do not believe that a plateau is in sight. Though attempting to put a cap on the number of children you can have is a nice idea to stabilize the population, I do not think it is reasonable to introduce anytime soon. At least not here in "Muricuh, unfortunately.
even if we try to control our population sooner or later we are going to still face the problem of depleting natural resources. i think that trying to decrease our usage of natural resources or trying to come up with alternatives would be more beneficial than trying to control a population.
I say we implement a policy where doctors secretly sterilize ever other male and female upon child birth without the mother and father knowing. The government hides everything from us anyways, so why not this as well.
no, population control wouldn't work in western democracies but almost none of them need it. I am German and we are declining in numbers and getting older. The main boom is happening in subequatorial Africa and to a less extent India and the Middle East (inkl. Turkey). In Africa the age expectancy is 46 so they can "afford" twice the number. One of the more effective ways of improving food resources is for us all to STOP EATING MEAT.
I've watched quite a few similar videos but yours has had me listening attentively for the whole of the video - so well done on that, especially when I get distracted easily.
May have to come up with the video response because 272 characters is not enough!
I think we should encourage adoption rather than giving birth, and give more benefits to people who adopt instead of give birth. There are so many children up for adoption in the east that soon we could balance out a lot of wanna be parents, making not as many babies.
As you mentioned some European countries are facing decreasing populations at the moment, but the key factor is that there are very few births. In fact most western countries are facing a problem as it will become increasingly harder for governments to sustain the number of elderly. Would decreasing the no. of births actually solve the problem of the world pop. size, given that they already have a low number of children born, especially with problems that arise due to the ageing population?
Your point seems logical and I will admit that it sounds quite enticing, but I am afraid things are not quite so simple (not that implementing a policy such as the one-child policy is simple anyway, but let me explain in another comment...)
This is gonna sound cruel, and it is. But all other animals breed until they overtax their resources and then they either kill each other or die of lack of resources (famine etc.) We aren't above that mechanism, war and famine will solve the problem for us eventually if we let them. And frankly people don't see THAT appauled by the wars and famines going on currently - it seems doubtful to me that they'll feel differently about the wars and famines to come.
You make a really good point. It worries me quite a lot that we now have SO many people on this planet. Not only are the resources depleting (I believe it's 50 years approximately before we run out?) but our environment is slowly being corrupted also. I guess I just wanted to ask what your opinion on the ITER project is? Do you think it's a viable solution? Do you think it will even work? I'm fairly clueless about the science but it really interests me.
science has the answer to both famine and disease, sky farms. They are essentially high story greenhouses that in a 400 square meter floor space and produce around 30 times as much produce as a field the same size. Also as you can monitor the climate inside you could produce potatoes in Africa or Bananas in Norway along with the majority of ingredients for modern medicine .
i never realised how drastic and scary this all was...
i see population control as a step towards a freedom-less, dystopian world, which i suppose is irrational, but it still scares me.
i think consumption should be controlled more tightly, especially in first world countries who have the mentality of a disposable income, and who throw things away just because they aren't the newest model or whatever.
We have such good medical care now that we can save people who, if born 200 years ago, would have died. Our life expectancy is a lot longer than it was hundreds of years ago, I think this is also a factor. In order to control the population, we would have to either control who gets medical care, or how many children are born to one set of parents. The first option is inhumane, the second is ridiculous, what would they do if someone got pregnant anyway? I don't think it would happen anytime soon.
While I understand that our massive population growth has us headed towards problems I do not think that a population control strategy will work, not in the US anyway. I do not think that our government would ever be able to pass a law telling people how many children they can have. I honestly think that even the idea of population control would set people in America off. Also having to think about some people's religion & the fact they do not believe in using birth control. I don't see a fix?
I think problems like oil and coal are much more minor issues than the problems of space and ecological strain our population generates. Oil and coal can be replaced, although not easily by things like nuclear power plants, solar power, wind power and hydrogen fuel cells, we just need to get our governments to start pushing towards making new energy sources more reliable. Humanity however seems to be much more rapidly destroying the environment around us that I feel is more likely to destroy us
I'm so torn on the issue. I don't know that population control is morally defensible (according to my system of morals, obviously) because these people are still people. However, it's really scary to think that we only reached 6 billion a few years ago and now we're on 7 billion. We will definitely run out of resources sometime. But there is scientific precedent saying that our population will probably plateau at some point--the worrisome part is that this means lots of people dying (cont'd)
@fizzylimon at a steady rate of things like hunger and disease. I don't know how exactly we should respond to the problem. I hope that there is some sort of solution that is both morally defensible and also feasible. I suppose we shall see soon enough.
the richest countries made it possible for the population boom along with extending ones life in every country and that continues at a rapid pace- your generation will have some very hard decisions to make- one of the biggest expense in USA is trying to save the very old in the few weeks of their life-
many are kept alive whether they want to be or not
those numbers are crazy! i think eventually the west in going to have to do something. i think more people should adopt. but idk. i think people will be upset that we would be told what to do and how many children to have, rather than chose for ourselves... idk
I think at some point people will have to address the birth rate problem. I know quite a few people who are scared by the number 7 billion and they say that's too many people for the world to continue as it is but these same people would also tell me they want 3-4 kids.
great video Jazza and to be honest i couldnt agree with you more. I doubt tho that in western societies there ever will be a limit put on how many children one can get.
@andrsdtz Why do you doubt that? The idea has already been brought up but it wasn't put in place but now that we've reached this massive number I think that it's very possible that a limit will be put in place
Things are not going to be cheery and happy, we're not running on an unlimited supply of resources. So how do we control the population? Personally I don't really know... the only way I can think of is education and birth control/family planning, especially in third world countries.
I wonder how having a large portion of the population that has grown up without a sibling (and the lessons that experience teaches) will be different from the current one.
@Cadisawi China has a reputation of having a generation of 'little emporers', but from my experience it just strengthened the linked between cousins and friends, who now always affectionately call each other their siblings. It also means that one kid is going to have a much better go at life, having two families pulling all their resources together to raise it. There ARE benefits, it's just not a very comfortable concept.
It's entirely about development. It's less developed countries whose populations are growing so quickly for the most part, as many are still functioning on an agricultural model where having lots of children is the best option for a family because more children means more people to help work the land or go out to work elsewhere. If we were to help more nations develop, it seems to me they would most likely follow the trajectory of developed nations and reduce the size of the average family unit.
@deathbyclownage But then who is going to grow all the food and make your clothes? Regardless, the standard of living we became used to in the west is going to have to be compromised.
it actually scares me - to put it bluntly - shitless that the population is growing so rapidly. we'll run out of resources (food and drinking water too, not just oil etc.).
the thing is, i reckon birth control COULD be a way to stop the rapid growth, but then again, i have always wanted to have 2-4 children; of my own. nowadays, i'm considering giving birth to two and adopting two, but i don't know. i really don't know. it's scary.
I'll keep it simple, we are animals, and as such we reproduce. For years we have promoted the benefits controlling animal populations (for example, of spading & neutering dogs). Similarly we should promote the voluntary sterilization of humans by giving those who go through the process some incentives, like tax breaks or payment for their operation & care.
@blurredsilence I think an awful lot of people would have a problem with you classifying humans as just animals, but maybe that is the kind of perspective that we need when approaching this subject.
One child policy=Terrible, terrible idea. As soon as the current generation of parents ages, China will have a MASSIVE issue with ageing population. It's simple maths, there will be (roughly) half as many young people as old, which is going to make life very difficult for those young people.
I think Hank Green made an excellent point in his video on the subject, we have the resources to feed 11 Billion people, but we just waste so much of it. If we waste less, we can support everyone, and more
@Seamalicous I agree with you, but there are more problems with overpopulation that just having to feed everyone; there will be issues with finding places for everyone to live, providing people with fuel and not to mention that with cities having to become larger and far more crowded, other species would suffer as less green space would be about and denser populations have in history meant the easier spread of disease. So no, we can't support everyone.
@darceyisntadoctor well that's not necessarily true. As it is we waste a lot of space. If we (all 7 billion of us) stood shoulder to shoulder, we'd take as much space as the city of Los Angeles (from the National Geographic page on turning 7 billion). So if we were to become more efficient, less wasteful, the planet could still support our growing species. Nonetheless, we aren't frugal, so some drastic measures should me taken. Perhaps incentivizing voluntary sterilization.
@Seamalicous short term, if we don't slowdown population growth, yes, wasting less fuel and space can be a solution, but long term, as the population keeps growing, we'd need a drastic social change. People are not going to want to part with their things so easily. How much space our things take up stem from our ideas of property. These notions of ownership and the status things represent are ingrained in our capitalistic society. As long as we don't change these, waste will still be a problem.
@Seamalicous That is true, but let's be honest; how many people are going to give up those things? Driving, probably, since petrol will only become more and more expensive, but a better way would be to use renewable energy sources rather than make people use less energy as they would complain otherwise. As for the housing, it's not quite that simple; we could potentially house everyone, yes, but being packed together would increase the rate of disease spreading.
@rhymingwithoranges Thanks! I'm pretty convinced that I want to create a video response to this, so hopefully I'll get that done in the next few days ^_^ There isn't enough room in the comments boxes, after all.
I thought I might just leave something floating round here. In my migraine induced state I had the crazy idea that if the population got too big our leaders might use war as a form of 'population control'. What do you think?
My migraine isn't allowing me to think this through properly so I wanted to see what others think.
@footynutguy Hmm, it depends how much you think governments actually control. But when you start thinking like that conspiracy theories start popping into your head. Hope your migraine gets better!
@rhymingwithoranges Im watching from Occupy in New Zealand! Im with about 50 others outside my local council building, the stock exchange AND the police station. many have been here 3 weeks! the media and govt say we have no solutions, but we have been running free university lectures, free trade markets and worked together for 3 weeks.
here where there are tax cuts for the rich and 15% Services tax on goods including food, fruit and veg and even water is metered. and population only 4mil
China is trying to limit birthrate, WHILE countries like Russia are trying to increase their birthrates. Overpopulation is mostly a problem in undeveloped countries, while many developed countries are approaching zero growth. Of course, it's still a problem for everybody because resources are increasingly scarce and large-scale immigration brings those problems home to nations otherwise well-off. BUT China's oppressive one child policy will NOT work globally. In fact, it barely worked for China.
@dafttool How is Russia trying to increase its birthrate? You say China's regime is oppressive, but when in China the Chinese have yes, complained, but generally accepted the fact that their population needed to be controlled at the end of the Mao era. They all agreed to take one for the team. I don't think we have the cultural characteristics to pull something like that off...
@rhymingwithoranges It's part of Putin's "nationalism" movement, giving money & benefits to people having kids. Has a procreation day, etc. --Telling people how many kids they can have IS oppressive. Freedom-loving people throughout the world have problems with such authoritarian govt. mandates. Forced abortions was one of the slams that policy encouraged. So no, it is a policy that would not go over well with most people. Encouraging a low birthrate is one thing, making it the law is another.
@rhymingwithoranges Did you know that the phrase "touch wood" comes from touching the cross around ones neck? So it's actually a very Christian comment to make.
Sorry, this is entirely irrelevant, I just like obscure facts. I'm leaving now :)
The reason there are 7 billion people is because of a sufficient increase in the understanding of medication towards diseases that even just 100 years ago were largely not understood. By battling these problems to create a better world, we have ultimately lined ourselves up for a future of fewer resources. Therefore, unless something isn't done about the population, I believe the age we are living in now may be the peak of wellbeing; we will never have it so good.
I'm sort of tempted to make a video response; this has actually been worrying me since I was pretty young. I think China's one-child policy could work across the world, however, it would not be met well. People in richer countries would complain because they'd want the luxury of as many children as they wanted, and people in poorer countries would have more reason to be upset since the sad truth is a lot of them have more children in order to ensure at least one of them survives.
@darceyisntadoctor Somebody below mentioned the option of western countries starting to reward family planning rather than children. Maybe this is an option?
@rhymingwithoranges Yes, I think that could work; it will encourage people to have smaller families without making them feel under pressure to do so. Do you think maybe encouraging adoption would also help control the population?
@rhymingwithoranges True, but it could at least encourage people to have less children and then adopt if they wanted any more, although the adoption process can be quite difficult; I know someone who's parents fostered a girl for three years but were still not allowed to adopt her.
@darceyisntadoctor I've had these thoughts too, but it seems like too cold and cruel a measure to impose. Out of everything in my life, having a sibling is probably the thing I value more than anything else, and I think the world we be a far less rich place without those sorts of relationships. It's much more than a luxury of the rich.
I agree our global population will eventually plateau as shown in the video Dan linked to. However I also agree that resources are running whether or not our global population has stopped growing exponentially. But we will adapt. We will have to become vegetarian or only eat insects as a species rather than waste food feeding livestock and pets, rely on green energy, etc, but we have the capacity to do all that now, but governments won't make it a priority until fossil fuels are nearly gone.
@rhymingwithoranges I'm not sure I understand you. Do you mean you think the problems of population growth will fall on the shoulders of the rich? In which case I disagree, think that (unless there is some intervention by organisations like the UN) problems like food shortage, lack of electricity, unclean water, etc will be the problem of the poor, as they are now. However I hope there will be an effort made to ensure that this isn't the case.
here in israel there are a LOT of religious people, having 10 or even more children fo every couple, they dont work, they just study, so the rest of the country has to feed them aswell, and im kinda worried they are going to outnumber us, the rest of the country...
i mean the religious people who dont work. im going to start serving in the army in a year or two, giving 2 years i could use to start studying. they serve in the army for a few months. in a non-religious family there are usualy maximum 3 kids. i met a religious family with 13 kids. religious people outnumbering non-religious, and then just sit and read the bible...
it's incredibly misleading for anyone to give the statistic to you of saying you're the 80,216,131,593rd person ever to exist. Hopefully you can see that it is a made-up bit of fun to quote that, seeing as there was no such thing as a '1st human' and between the long unknown years between when apes developed tool use and the earliest medieval kings, there was this huge span of many millions of unrecorded years. We can *vaguely* calculate world populations now via census, but we have no number
@Destro7000 You're right in that that statistic is pretty useless for the purposes of this debate. I just wanted to include it because it puts into perspective the growth of population and because it's a cool function of that website. Of course I am not that exact number, it's close to impossible for us to find that out. Back on topic, do you think our rising population is something we should start controlling?
@rhymingwithoranges yeah, apart from the 'exact number' thing, it does help show population, but I think there are probably other ways of demonstrating the extreme scales to people, too. (I think 'Scale Studies' might be an important lesson in schools one day!)
As for the 7 billion, I think China's very good with that law (the 1-child policy? or is it 2?) and it's a shame it's not been implemented in every other country! David Attenborough's pretty outspoken on the Overpopulation issue, btw!
I think that we should have a system like that in the west , for example , you receive less or no benefits for every child after the second , as I know a lot of people who actively try to have as many children as possible to cheat the system of welfare.
Or Selections pressures in the face of extreme planetary desperation could inspire innovation ( or even crude evolution) beyond our current level of understanding. I always believe I do my best essay writing the day before a deadline!!
fuck it, i knew i should have done a video response!
@TheAllroundniceguy This is the view of my friend. That the human race has and always will be able to adapt to the changing circumstances. Video response anyway!
Okay this may not be popular. But tis only hypothetical: if you consider the theories of both Malthouse and Darwin, we could just wait for the population issue to divine its own solution "and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice." whilst documenting the whole thing into the annals of human history.
We could foreseeably host "Resource Wars" and the breakdown of civilised international relations.
Ohhhhh course..... Darwin’s theory that consist of change not over decades... but in fact thousands of years. Should just magically come into play and fix everything.
@revron77 yeah tbh, i kind of agree with you. I'm just spit-balling. Really what I was referring to was the idea of selection pressures wiping out populations who can't control their fate. I mean I wasn't really suggesting it fix everything, just that perhaps instead of fretting over coming up with a solution today, lets just see what happens.
Also so be fair, sometime I think my opinion on any of this kind of stuff is compromised as a biology student and a christian.
@TheAllroundniceguy The sad thing is that is that when the selection process comes into play it is not us, the ones that can change it, that are going to suffer, it's those that are already on or under the poverty line that are going to be 'naturally selected' to not continue. How is that fair? Should we care that it isn't fair?
@revron77 also sorry if the referring to malthouse and darwin was too much, but as my flatmates are usually more concerned with dumb shit like the only way is essex, i saw a small shot to try and be smart and just went for it.
I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell that the West could employ such anti-population mesures as China does. The blame always seems to fall on immigration anyway, so there's little call for it. I heard (although it was a long time ago so this info might be out of date) that Japan has such excellent education and birth control measures (with teen pregnancy being virtually zero) that they are actually seeing a decline in population in areas. As always, we should just copy them.
OrgasmandTea 3 months ago
I never knew many of these statistics and the incredible nature of the dramatic growth in the last 20 and 60 years. Very thoughtful and provocative video, as usual. Interesting to hear your views after your time spent in China. Not only would there be famine and disease, the amounts of fresh water and arable land for crop growth has somewhat finite limits, given present technologies and economies. I have no practical solutions to offer.
awreslr2 3 months ago
I think there should be a law stating that all females under the age of 25 should take some kind of birth control that isn't the pill (such as the implant or injection). This would stop teenage and young pregnancies and would slightly help the population issue as well as giving young girls, who would become mums, a chance in life.
welshchick1993 3 months ago
Export part of humanity to mars.
generik88 4 months ago
A third of the planet is starving to death, a third is overweight and 33 percent is water lol. Just everyone eat a fat person we'd be sorted for a while. (FYI this is my silly answer to offset the sane rational idea I just posted that everyone is gonna call stupid lol no this one is stupid)
snappingturtle101 4 months ago
Ok this is a bit out there I know but how about we stop breeding? I know I know a hassle right? I mean we all want 9 children. It's ridicules point is "don't be a fool wrap your tool guys". As far as the energy thing goes I can't imagine penguins and polar bears giving a flying icicle about afew million wind turbines and solar generators on the two most uninhabitable places on earth. Then of course we just have to learn to share the energy
snappingturtle101 4 months ago
Little bit scary when you think about it. I've done my part so far though by not fathering a child.
thegadgetdude 4 months ago
In my opinion we ought to volontarily control the population increase. Unfortunately this, should it be taken into consideration, could be more easily implemented in those areas where it is less necessary, namely the richest and more educated countries. I don't see much encouragement of doing this elsewhere by those organizations that work at relieving hunger and illnesses over the world. Don't you think they should?
whataboutAlfie 4 months ago
I think that a limit to the amount of children a person can have would be beneficial for the planet. As for the use of fossil fuels, the human race has proven to be super ingenious, so I'm sure we'd find another way to power things if we had to. Plus, carbon emissions would probably decrease dramatically if we stopped using fossil fuels.
Isaac
isaac78russell 4 months ago
Ok. Now planning video response...
JoelJoel321 4 months ago
@JoelJoel321 I look forward to it. :)
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges Well I'm committed now I suppose, haha. I'll do my best.
JoelJoel321 4 months ago
Even if, like Dan Brown said in his video, the population will even out, I think that there simply aren't enough resources to sustain us all. This is coming into the whole fossil fuel-renewable energy thing, but we need to start using other energy resources and use fossil fuels and other finite resources for things with fewer substitutes, like plastic.
Went off-track a bit there. Anyway, I don't think enough people realise how large this whole seven-billion thing is. It's so scary!
nillyvanilla3 4 months ago
I live in Argentina, and nobody (at least from the people that I know) seems to care about this... If I talk about it they look at me like I'm crazy. Maybe because I say things like "I can't believe people still want to have 4/5/6 babies. We are more than enough people here. Does anybody think about the planet resources?". Yeah, I must be crazy.
lailaylen 4 months ago
OIL & GASS?
juteboxs 4 months ago
@juteboxs ... yes
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
*don't *job
DoctorWaffle1997 4 months ago
I never really thought about it to be honest.. Alot of people would argue that birth control, like in China is hugely wrong against human rights and they have a very good point. And also I don;t think most western countries need birth control as they're populations aren't that huge but what they do need is some common sense and to really start conserving energy. I think the main problem of population does come from countries such as Africa and I think we should make it our jab to educate them...
DoctorWaffle1997 4 months ago
Birth rate control isnt the answer. I read a series called the Shadow Children. It took place in the future where there're rules that said you could only have 2 kids. The third children were forced into hiding or population police would kill them. its fiction but its looking like thats where the worlds going
We cant view people as a problem. We can give incentives to use birth control and make it available to more of the world.
The vlogbrothers have a great video on the subject.
heyitsrissa 4 months ago
as stupid and unopinionated as this sounds i completely agree with you
TRDPaul 4 months ago
@TRDPaul Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
Many might view this topic as mundane, but your charm and humor make it incredibly more interesting.
I like the way you say things. Rather, just the way you present things.
Well done.
As for the actual topic, I do not believe that a plateau is in sight. Though attempting to put a cap on the number of children you can have is a nice idea to stabilize the population, I do not think it is reasonable to introduce anytime soon. At least not here in "Muricuh, unfortunately.
sophiaathina 4 months ago
even if we try to control our population sooner or later we are going to still face the problem of depleting natural resources. i think that trying to decrease our usage of natural resources or trying to come up with alternatives would be more beneficial than trying to control a population.
thenonsense23 4 months ago 3
Comment removed
thenonsense23 4 months ago
If aliens exist I wonder if they're facing similar problems...*looks at the sky*.
Ailacake 4 months ago
the 7 billion worries me a lot more than the 99% movement. food and natural resources will be the spoils of war forever more.
CheekTV 4 months ago
I say we implement a policy where doctors secretly sterilize ever other male and female upon child birth without the mother and father knowing. The government hides everything from us anyways, so why not this as well.
wildboy92004 4 months ago
I could make a video... but wouldn't really know where to start...
JoelJoel321 4 months ago
no, population control wouldn't work in western democracies but almost none of them need it. I am German and we are declining in numbers and getting older. The main boom is happening in subequatorial Africa and to a less extent India and the Middle East (inkl. Turkey). In Africa the age expectancy is 46 so they can "afford" twice the number. One of the more effective ways of improving food resources is for us all to STOP EATING MEAT.
Marcomanseckisax 4 months ago
I've watched quite a few similar videos but yours has had me listening attentively for the whole of the video - so well done on that, especially when I get distracted easily.
May have to come up with the video response because 272 characters is not enough!
ViruneeV 4 months ago
I think we should encourage adoption rather than giving birth, and give more benefits to people who adopt instead of give birth. There are so many children up for adoption in the east that soon we could balance out a lot of wanna be parents, making not as many babies.
karathenerd 4 months ago
@Minkusia I'm glad to be making them again :)
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
As you mentioned some European countries are facing decreasing populations at the moment, but the key factor is that there are very few births. In fact most western countries are facing a problem as it will become increasingly harder for governments to sustain the number of elderly. Would decreasing the no. of births actually solve the problem of the world pop. size, given that they already have a low number of children born, especially with problems that arise due to the ageing population?
uselessfifu 4 months ago
Your point seems logical and I will admit that it sounds quite enticing, but I am afraid things are not quite so simple (not that implementing a policy such as the one-child policy is simple anyway, but let me explain in another comment...)
uselessfifu 4 months ago
This is gonna sound cruel, and it is. But all other animals breed until they overtax their resources and then they either kill each other or die of lack of resources (famine etc.) We aren't above that mechanism, war and famine will solve the problem for us eventually if we let them. And frankly people don't see THAT appauled by the wars and famines going on currently - it seems doubtful to me that they'll feel differently about the wars and famines to come.
Loreki 4 months ago
You make a really good point. It worries me quite a lot that we now have SO many people on this planet. Not only are the resources depleting (I believe it's 50 years approximately before we run out?) but our environment is slowly being corrupted also. I guess I just wanted to ask what your opinion on the ITER project is? Do you think it's a viable solution? Do you think it will even work? I'm fairly clueless about the science but it really interests me.
LIZZIEfication 4 months ago
science has the answer to both famine and disease, sky farms. They are essentially high story greenhouses that in a 400 square meter floor space and produce around 30 times as much produce as a field the same size. Also as you can monitor the climate inside you could produce potatoes in Africa or Bananas in Norway along with the majority of ingredients for modern medicine .
TheDrunkSpunk 4 months ago
i never realised how drastic and scary this all was...
i see population control as a step towards a freedom-less, dystopian world, which i suppose is irrational, but it still scares me.
i think consumption should be controlled more tightly, especially in first world countries who have the mentality of a disposable income, and who throw things away just because they aren't the newest model or whatever.
spyteandmalice 4 months ago
We have such good medical care now that we can save people who, if born 200 years ago, would have died. Our life expectancy is a lot longer than it was hundreds of years ago, I think this is also a factor. In order to control the population, we would have to either control who gets medical care, or how many children are born to one set of parents. The first option is inhumane, the second is ridiculous, what would they do if someone got pregnant anyway? I don't think it would happen anytime soon.
isaiddevilyoulied 4 months ago
While I understand that our massive population growth has us headed towards problems I do not think that a population control strategy will work, not in the US anyway. I do not think that our government would ever be able to pass a law telling people how many children they can have. I honestly think that even the idea of population control would set people in America off. Also having to think about some people's religion & the fact they do not believe in using birth control. I don't see a fix?
pinki8503 4 months ago
I think problems like oil and coal are much more minor issues than the problems of space and ecological strain our population generates. Oil and coal can be replaced, although not easily by things like nuclear power plants, solar power, wind power and hydrogen fuel cells, we just need to get our governments to start pushing towards making new energy sources more reliable. Humanity however seems to be much more rapidly destroying the environment around us that I feel is more likely to destroy us
Dracofav 4 months ago
I'm so torn on the issue. I don't know that population control is morally defensible (according to my system of morals, obviously) because these people are still people. However, it's really scary to think that we only reached 6 billion a few years ago and now we're on 7 billion. We will definitely run out of resources sometime. But there is scientific precedent saying that our population will probably plateau at some point--the worrisome part is that this means lots of people dying (cont'd)
fizzylimon 4 months ago
@fizzylimon at a steady rate of things like hunger and disease. I don't know how exactly we should respond to the problem. I hope that there is some sort of solution that is both morally defensible and also feasible. I suppose we shall see soon enough.
fizzylimon 4 months ago
the richest countries made it possible for the population boom along with extending ones life in every country and that continues at a rapid pace- your generation will have some very hard decisions to make- one of the biggest expense in USA is trying to save the very old in the few weeks of their life-
many are kept alive whether they want to be or not
z2u 4 months ago
those numbers are crazy! i think eventually the west in going to have to do something. i think more people should adopt. but idk. i think people will be upset that we would be told what to do and how many children to have, rather than chose for ourselves... idk
purpledinosification 4 months ago
I think more people should adopt children and we should teach people in developing countries about contraceptives and stds.
heyummrandommuch 4 months ago
I think at some point people will have to address the birth rate problem. I know quite a few people who are scared by the number 7 billion and they say that's too many people for the world to continue as it is but these same people would also tell me they want 3-4 kids.
awildeeveeappeared 4 months ago
@awildeeveeappeared That's one of the good things Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have done for the world, adoption has become fashionable.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago 9
great video Jazza and to be honest i couldnt agree with you more. I doubt tho that in western societies there ever will be a limit put on how many children one can get.
andrsdtz 4 months ago
@andrsdtz Why do you doubt that? The idea has already been brought up but it wasn't put in place but now that we've reached this massive number I think that it's very possible that a limit will be put in place
MickeyJay27 4 months ago
@MickeyJay27 cause populations in many western countries are shrinking or overaging. so they will be very happy for every newborn
andrsdtz 4 months ago
Things are not going to be cheery and happy, we're not running on an unlimited supply of resources. So how do we control the population? Personally I don't really know... the only way I can think of is education and birth control/family planning, especially in third world countries.
Heartze 4 months ago
I wonder how having a large portion of the population that has grown up without a sibling (and the lessons that experience teaches) will be different from the current one.
Cadisawi 4 months ago
@Cadisawi China has a reputation of having a generation of 'little emporers', but from my experience it just strengthened the linked between cousins and friends, who now always affectionately call each other their siblings. It also means that one kid is going to have a much better go at life, having two families pulling all their resources together to raise it. There ARE benefits, it's just not a very comfortable concept.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago 5
@rhymingwithoranges you can't have a cousin if everyone only has one child.... you also can't have aunties or uncles or anything like that.
aliceinwonderinc 4 months ago
It's entirely about development. It's less developed countries whose populations are growing so quickly for the most part, as many are still functioning on an agricultural model where having lots of children is the best option for a family because more children means more people to help work the land or go out to work elsewhere. If we were to help more nations develop, it seems to me they would most likely follow the trajectory of developed nations and reduce the size of the average family unit.
deathbyclownage 4 months ago
@deathbyclownage But then who is going to grow all the food and make your clothes? Regardless, the standard of living we became used to in the west is going to have to be compromised.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
it actually scares me - to put it bluntly - shitless that the population is growing so rapidly. we'll run out of resources (food and drinking water too, not just oil etc.).
the thing is, i reckon birth control COULD be a way to stop the rapid growth, but then again, i have always wanted to have 2-4 children; of my own. nowadays, i'm considering giving birth to two and adopting two, but i don't know. i really don't know. it's scary.
Maryangel24 4 months ago
@Maryangel24 p.s. also, many people think that reproduction IS the meaning of life - so when you take that away, what remains?
Maryangel24 4 months ago
@Maryangel24 The need for an evaluation of the meaning of life.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
I'll keep it simple, we are animals, and as such we reproduce. For years we have promoted the benefits controlling animal populations (for example, of spading & neutering dogs). Similarly we should promote the voluntary sterilization of humans by giving those who go through the process some incentives, like tax breaks or payment for their operation & care.
blurredsilence 4 months ago
@blurredsilence I think an awful lot of people would have a problem with you classifying humans as just animals, but maybe that is the kind of perspective that we need when approaching this subject.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
One child policy=Terrible, terrible idea. As soon as the current generation of parents ages, China will have a MASSIVE issue with ageing population. It's simple maths, there will be (roughly) half as many young people as old, which is going to make life very difficult for those young people.
I think Hank Green made an excellent point in his video on the subject, we have the resources to feed 11 Billion people, but we just waste so much of it. If we waste less, we can support everyone, and more
Seamalicous 4 months ago
@Seamalicous I agree with you, but there are more problems with overpopulation that just having to feed everyone; there will be issues with finding places for everyone to live, providing people with fuel and not to mention that with cities having to become larger and far more crowded, other species would suffer as less green space would be about and denser populations have in history meant the easier spread of disease. So no, we can't support everyone.
darceyisntadoctor 4 months ago
@darceyisntadoctor well that's not necessarily true. As it is we waste a lot of space. If we (all 7 billion of us) stood shoulder to shoulder, we'd take as much space as the city of Los Angeles (from the National Geographic page on turning 7 billion). So if we were to become more efficient, less wasteful, the planet could still support our growing species. Nonetheless, we aren't frugal, so some drastic measures should me taken. Perhaps incentivizing voluntary sterilization.
blurredsilence 4 months ago
@darceyisntadoctor We will just have to waste less fuel and space. Our cars and televisions are too big, and so are our houses, it can be done :)
Seamalicous 4 months ago
@Seamalicous short term, if we don't slowdown population growth, yes, wasting less fuel and space can be a solution, but long term, as the population keeps growing, we'd need a drastic social change. People are not going to want to part with their things so easily. How much space our things take up stem from our ideas of property. These notions of ownership and the status things represent are ingrained in our capitalistic society. As long as we don't change these, waste will still be a problem.
blurredsilence 4 months ago
@Seamalicous That is true, but let's be honest; how many people are going to give up those things? Driving, probably, since petrol will only become more and more expensive, but a better way would be to use renewable energy sources rather than make people use less energy as they would complain otherwise. As for the housing, it's not quite that simple; we could potentially house everyone, yes, but being packed together would increase the rate of disease spreading.
darceyisntadoctor 4 months ago
@darceyisntadoctor @seamalicous loving this discussion guys, some awesome points made.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges Thanks! I'm pretty convinced that I want to create a video response to this, so hopefully I'll get that done in the next few days ^_^ There isn't enough room in the comments boxes, after all.
darceyisntadoctor 4 months ago
I thought I might just leave something floating round here. In my migraine induced state I had the crazy idea that if the population got too big our leaders might use war as a form of 'population control'. What do you think?
My migraine isn't allowing me to think this through properly so I wanted to see what others think.
footynutguy 4 months ago
@footynutguy Hmm, it depends how much you think governments actually control. But when you start thinking like that conspiracy theories start popping into your head. Hope your migraine gets better!
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
im watching this from an occupy somewhere in the world, is that a life in cartoon motion cd in the backround?
HeartlessArchAngel69 4 months ago
@HeartlessArchAngel69 It is. Where are you watching thisfrom again?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges Im watching from Occupy in New Zealand! Im with about 50 others outside my local council building, the stock exchange AND the police station. many have been here 3 weeks! the media and govt say we have no solutions, but we have been running free university lectures, free trade markets and worked together for 3 weeks.
here where there are tax cuts for the rich and 15% Services tax on goods including food, fruit and veg and even water is metered. and population only 4mil
HeartlessArchAngel69 4 months ago
China is trying to limit birthrate, WHILE countries like Russia are trying to increase their birthrates. Overpopulation is mostly a problem in undeveloped countries, while many developed countries are approaching zero growth. Of course, it's still a problem for everybody because resources are increasingly scarce and large-scale immigration brings those problems home to nations otherwise well-off. BUT China's oppressive one child policy will NOT work globally. In fact, it barely worked for China.
dafttool 4 months ago
@dafttool How is Russia trying to increase its birthrate? You say China's regime is oppressive, but when in China the Chinese have yes, complained, but generally accepted the fact that their population needed to be controlled at the end of the Mao era. They all agreed to take one for the team. I don't think we have the cultural characteristics to pull something like that off...
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges It's part of Putin's "nationalism" movement, giving money & benefits to people having kids. Has a procreation day, etc. --Telling people how many kids they can have IS oppressive. Freedom-loving people throughout the world have problems with such authoritarian govt. mandates. Forced abortions was one of the slams that policy encouraged. So no, it is a policy that would not go over well with most people. Encouraging a low birthrate is one thing, making it the law is another.
dafttool 4 months ago
That is an unbelievable statistic about the 1950s. Wow.
RogueBlueJay 4 months ago
I am scared :/ So much going on in the world.
TheRockinGinger 4 months ago
@TheRockinGinger I know, tell me about it. At least we haven't had the zombie Apocalypse yet. *touch wood*
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges Did you know that the phrase "touch wood" comes from touching the cross around ones neck? So it's actually a very Christian comment to make.
Sorry, this is entirely irrelevant, I just like obscure facts. I'm leaving now :)
bansribb 4 months ago
The reason there are 7 billion people is because of a sufficient increase in the understanding of medication towards diseases that even just 100 years ago were largely not understood. By battling these problems to create a better world, we have ultimately lined ourselves up for a future of fewer resources. Therefore, unless something isn't done about the population, I believe the age we are living in now may be the peak of wellbeing; we will never have it so good.
JohnTalksToYou 4 months ago
@JohnTalksToYou I agree, what do you think our options are with regards to population control?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
I'm sort of tempted to make a video response; this has actually been worrying me since I was pretty young. I think China's one-child policy could work across the world, however, it would not be met well. People in richer countries would complain because they'd want the luxury of as many children as they wanted, and people in poorer countries would have more reason to be upset since the sad truth is a lot of them have more children in order to ensure at least one of them survives.
darceyisntadoctor 4 months ago
@darceyisntadoctor Somebody below mentioned the option of western countries starting to reward family planning rather than children. Maybe this is an option?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges Yes, I think that could work; it will encourage people to have smaller families without making them feel under pressure to do so. Do you think maybe encouraging adoption would also help control the population?
darceyisntadoctor 4 months ago
@darceyisntadoctor I think it would definitely help, but it's a very hard natural human desire to reproduce and pass on your genes.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges True, but it could at least encourage people to have less children and then adopt if they wanted any more, although the adoption process can be quite difficult; I know someone who's parents fostered a girl for three years but were still not allowed to adopt her.
darceyisntadoctor 4 months ago
@darceyisntadoctor I've had these thoughts too, but it seems like too cold and cruel a measure to impose. Out of everything in my life, having a sibling is probably the thing I value more than anything else, and I think the world we be a far less rich place without those sorts of relationships. It's much more than a luxury of the rich.
bansribb 4 months ago
I agree our global population will eventually plateau as shown in the video Dan linked to. However I also agree that resources are running whether or not our global population has stopped growing exponentially. But we will adapt. We will have to become vegetarian or only eat insects as a species rather than waste food feeding livestock and pets, rely on green energy, etc, but we have the capacity to do all that now, but governments won't make it a priority until fossil fuels are nearly gone.
bansribb 4 months ago
@bansribb Do you think there will be an effort to make sure that it isn't only the rich that face the problems of population growth?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges I'm not sure I understand you. Do you mean you think the problems of population growth will fall on the shoulders of the rich? In which case I disagree, think that (unless there is some intervention by organisations like the UN) problems like food shortage, lack of electricity, unclean water, etc will be the problem of the poor, as they are now. However I hope there will be an effort made to ensure that this isn't the case.
bansribb 4 months ago
here in israel there are a LOT of religious people, having 10 or even more children fo every couple, they dont work, they just study, so the rest of the country has to feed them aswell, and im kinda worried they are going to outnumber us, the rest of the country...
mayai16 4 months ago
@mayai16 By outnumber us, who do you mean?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges
i mean the religious people who dont work. im going to start serving in the army in a year or two, giving 2 years i could use to start studying. they serve in the army for a few months. in a non-religious family there are usualy maximum 3 kids. i met a religious family with 13 kids. religious people outnumbering non-religious, and then just sit and read the bible...
mayai16 4 months ago
it's incredibly misleading for anyone to give the statistic to you of saying you're the 80,216,131,593rd person ever to exist. Hopefully you can see that it is a made-up bit of fun to quote that, seeing as there was no such thing as a '1st human' and between the long unknown years between when apes developed tool use and the earliest medieval kings, there was this huge span of many millions of unrecorded years. We can *vaguely* calculate world populations now via census, but we have no number
Destro7000 4 months ago
@Destro7000 You're right in that that statistic is pretty useless for the purposes of this debate. I just wanted to include it because it puts into perspective the growth of population and because it's a cool function of that website. Of course I am not that exact number, it's close to impossible for us to find that out. Back on topic, do you think our rising population is something we should start controlling?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@rhymingwithoranges yeah, apart from the 'exact number' thing, it does help show population, but I think there are probably other ways of demonstrating the extreme scales to people, too. (I think 'Scale Studies' might be an important lesson in schools one day!)
As for the 7 billion, I think China's very good with that law (the 1-child policy? or is it 2?) and it's a shame it's not been implemented in every other country! David Attenborough's pretty outspoken on the Overpopulation issue, btw!
Destro7000 4 months ago
I think that we should have a system like that in the west , for example , you receive less or no benefits for every child after the second , as I know a lot of people who actively try to have as many children as possible to cheat the system of welfare.
ThatKidWithTheVideos 4 months ago
@ThatKidWithTheVideos Very intelligent response. I like the fact that instead of rewarding large families we should be rewarding family planning.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
Or Selections pressures in the face of extreme planetary desperation could inspire innovation ( or even crude evolution) beyond our current level of understanding. I always believe I do my best essay writing the day before a deadline!!
fuck it, i knew i should have done a video response!
sorry for the length
TheAllroundniceguy 4 months ago
@TheAllroundniceguy This is the view of my friend. That the human race has and always will be able to adapt to the changing circumstances. Video response anyway!
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
Before thinking about a limit of children per couple, how about introducing a limit of 2 pet dogs per family?
MartyLuton 4 months ago
Okay this may not be popular. But tis only hypothetical: if you consider the theories of both Malthouse and Darwin, we could just wait for the population issue to divine its own solution "and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice." whilst documenting the whole thing into the annals of human history.
We could foreseeably host "Resource Wars" and the breakdown of civilised international relations.
TheAllroundniceguy 4 months ago
@TheAllroundniceguy
Ohhhhh course..... Darwin’s theory that consist of change not over decades... but in fact thousands of years. Should just magically come into play and fix everything.
OR..... it could kill us instead.
revron77 4 months ago
@revron77 yeah tbh, i kind of agree with you. I'm just spit-balling. Really what I was referring to was the idea of selection pressures wiping out populations who can't control their fate. I mean I wasn't really suggesting it fix everything, just that perhaps instead of fretting over coming up with a solution today, lets just see what happens.
Also so be fair, sometime I think my opinion on any of this kind of stuff is compromised as a biology student and a christian.
TheAllroundniceguy 4 months ago
@TheAllroundniceguy The sad thing is that is that when the selection process comes into play it is not us, the ones that can change it, that are going to suffer, it's those that are already on or under the poverty line that are going to be 'naturally selected' to not continue. How is that fair? Should we care that it isn't fair?
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
@revron77 also sorry if the referring to malthouse and darwin was too much, but as my flatmates are usually more concerned with dumb shit like the only way is essex, i saw a small shot to try and be smart and just went for it.
TheAllroundniceguy 4 months ago
Go to mars
tobzz99 4 months ago
@tobzz99 I'd volunteer.
rhymingwithoranges 4 months ago
We are stuck between a rock and a hardplace
Our aging population..... and our reasources.
Save the reasources.... or continue to mate and enjoy the good life while it lasts....
revron77 4 months ago