|
|
|
| If I Were President of the United States |
 Just in case you've been living on a deserted island for the past year and have been totally cut off from any and every possible news source, the U.S. will be having a presidential election this November. The candidates are sparring and the media pundits are analyzing - or whatever it is they do. In all of this, there is a universal dictum that everyone involved must criticize the president and the congress.
It appears that no one is happy with Washington. And can you blame them? Look at the state of affairs in our country and the world. The economy is in shambles. There are wars, uprisings, and outright rebellions in almost every corner of the globe - oftentimes led by some U.S. operation. There are so many people now living on the planet that hundreds of millions go hungry every day. The weather is behaving unpredictably leading to crop disruption. Water is running out in some places and overflowing the banks in others. Gas prices are through the roof . . . I mean, come on! Could it get any worse!? Of course Washington - specifically the president - is to blame! Right?
It's a legitimate question. Let's think about the answer for a moment. If you or I were president, what would we do about all the problems facing the globe?
Let's start with the one problem that is at the root of almost all the other problems facing us: overpopulation.
From the beginning of the homo sapiens species to about 1800, humans never numbered more than 500 million or so globally - often far fewer. In other words, for tens of thousands of years, throughout all of our recorded history until the mid-19th century, human population grew to the point at which the resources could support it, then forces of nature kept the numbers in check.
Population began a slow steady rise during the "age of enlightenment" as humans discovered and began to apply germ theory and use better sanitation methods, and other advancements.
Starting in about 1850, however, with the dawn of the industrial revolution and widespread use of coal, the population began to grow rapidly. Humans crossed the 1 billion mark at about that time.
Growth in numbers really began to accelerate over the next 50 years as the incredible stored energy of petroleum products (oil and its derivatives) was discovered and put into use. By 1960, Earth's population had reached 3,000,000,000. Skip just a few decades forward to today and the number of humans has climbed to seven billion! A whopping 14-fold increase in just a few centuries!
Thomas Malthus, in "An Essay on the Principles of Population", had it right: unchecked exponential population growth will lead to disastrous consequences. While Malthus was a few hundred years early and couldn't anticipate the affects of oil and modern industrial farming techniques, we are starting to see the effects of what he predicted now.
Whether we're talking about humans or any other living creature, overpopulation - sooner or later - leads to serious resource depletion, which leads to starvation and death. When people are hungry and desperate, they do all manner of things to try to survive. As we consider the other topics below, you can be certain that 7,000,000,000+ hungry people will compound our possible solutions.
Back to our original supposition. We are president of the U.S. What will we do about overpopulation? If we know that the earth can support only half a billion people without oil (as evidenced above), and we know that oil production is beginning to decline (we'll explore this more in future posts), then we have about 6.5 billion too many people on the planet. There are all sorts of actions we could consider which would take a few generations to come to fruition, but as we already have billions more people than we will be able to feed in just a few short years, any preventative action would need to have been taken decades ago.
As we will see in subsequent entries in this series, we are about to have serious disruptions to our food supplies, not to mention water. So any meaningful solution to overpopulation would have to include the early death of billions of people. Even if we did decide to take up the challenge and try to "fix" our population problem, can you imagine the fight that would ensue in congress? Just to name one group, the so-called "pro-life" groups would go ballistic! They wouldn't be the only group to protest: religious groups, poverty advocates, minority rights groups, business groups (fewer people mean fewer customers), libertarians, Democrats, Republicans . . . pretty much every group you can think of. (Not to mention the 6.5 billion whose lives would be ending prematurely.) The uproar over ending all those lives would be deafening.
Even if, by some miracle, we were able to get meaningful population reduction measures passed, the U.S. is actually contributing little to the problem - at least directly. Whatever we decide here will mean nothing in places like India, China, the Middle East, North Africa, and other population growth hotspots.
Of course, there is one way we could take meaningful, quick, decisive action to solve the population problem: nuclear war. Hmmm. Iran anyone?
Next: Global Warming
|
|
| The Previous 20 Posts: |
If I Were President of the United States - Jan 16, 12
Just in case you've been living on a deserted island for the past year and have been totally cut off . . . There's more
|
Happy New Year?? - Dec 31, 11
Another year. Gone.
Many memorable events occurred in my life this past year, as well as a little bit of . . . There's more
|
Up Next: Goats! - Nov 17, 11
So now that the chicken coop is done and the chickens are happily going about their business of being chickens . . . There's more
|
Democracy Rocks - Except When it Doesn't - Nov 02, 11
The leaders of the developed world are all about democracy. They will make great speeches about it. They will "work . . . There's more
|
The Chickens Have Arrived! - Oct 27, 11
Finally!
I bought 8 chickens this week from a lady just across the state line in Missouri. They are 10 . . . There's more
|
A new look at peak oil - Sep 26, 11
Recently I ran across an excellent post with a different way of looking at the issue of peak oil. It's . . . There's more
|
It's Collapse Time! - Sep 11, 11
It's no secret that there are people out there - lots of them - who think the industrial economy is unsustainable. I . . . There's more
|
Interview - Sep 04, 11
I was interviewed recently by New Zealand public radio concerning Barter Clinic and Barter Village. Here's the link:
http://www.radionz.co.nz . . . There's more
|
Barter Village Next Step - Aug 31, 11
So far the response to Barter Village has been quite good. Thousands of people have visited the website and quite . . . There's more
|
The Greatest Man I've Ever Known - Aug 21, 11
My father died almost two weeks ago. His death was rather sudden, occurring just 5 weeks after receiving the diagnosis . . . There's more
|
Some Really Pointless Advice - Aug 04, 11
Daily, I scan hundreds of articles from sources all over the world. It helps me to stay informed about current . . . There's more
|
Should the U.S. Default or Not? - Jul 27, 11
As I write this, there are about five days left before the United States defaults on its financial obligations. According . . . There's more
|
Looking for Solutions - Jul 22, 11
Since becoming aware of peak oil and the implications of this phenomenon on the other problems already facing our rapidly . . . There's more
|
Update on Food Preparations - Jun 28, 11
Okay, I know I've been remiss in posting lately. But, I've been busy in the garden! :-)
A few months ago . . . There's more
|
Healthcare is Broken. Do I Care? - May 20, 11
Some days I get so frustrated with our healthcare system that I just can't stand it. I want to chuck . . . There's more
|
Dissent and Discussion - May 14, 11
I have been blogging here for more than 4 years. During that time I've had quite a few comments posted . . . There's more
|
Spring: the Killing Season - May 12, 11
Even if I didn't know what the season was, I probably could tell by the types of animals dead on . . . There's more
|
Health Care in a Post-Collapse World - Apr 22, 11
Note: A version of this post is scheduled (tentatively) to appear on Nature Bats Last (http://www.guymcpherson.com) during the month . . . There's more
|
Preparation: Shelter - Apr 08, 11
Where will you live post-collapse?
For some, this may be a no-brainer. Perhaps you have a nice secure . . . There's more
|
Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink - Mar 25, 11
As I was preparing to get into the shower a few days ago, I turned the water on to let . . . There's more
|
|
|
|
|
Design and content © 2011 HealthByDrHouse.com