Population Control

[athoughtfulman]

The debate is over, it is time for action. You of all people must understand this.

Which debate? The one regarding over-population, climate change or the global recession?

All of them.

1. Over-population. I agree with Padraic here, that for the time being we have not reached critical mass though I think it likely that we will. The idea that we are over-populated seems rather ridiculous. How would one go about measuring it? Does one do it by landmass? If so, do we count the vast areas which are unpopulated? Do we do it by food:person ratio, then is there evidence that we are actually running out of food, or is it rather a case of most of the food being eaten by the western world?

As for the debate being over, the debate is never. Even if you can provide evidence that we are over-populated (you have so far failed to do so), the notion will always be debatable should new evidence arise. Perhaps we missed something, or perhaps we misunderstood something, and we should remain open-minded as we continue to assess the situation.

2. Climate change. There is already a thread about this, and I can tell you at least one thing and that is that the debate is far from over. People like Al Gore like to insist that the debate is over, but when was there ever a debate in the first place? First it was global warming, then it was renamed climate change, and most people believe it as fact. Again, regardless of what you believe, the debate needs to continue for the very fact that we do not have all the evidence. The latest IPCC report is based on the opinions of 5 independent scientists, not the body of work from thousands.

3. Global recession. I'm fairly ready to agree with you here, but I think it's worth mentioning that the more believe this is a recession, the worse it gets. As people tighten their spending because they believe it's a recession, more businesses shutdown, and it simply gets worse and worse. That's not to say that if we told everyone it wasn't a recession then it wouldn't be, only that perhaps it's not the smartest course of action to tell everyone how the global recession is fact.