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Population is the result of population growth. The best solution for the planet and our quality of life is to make population growth stop, and ideally see popu

Population is the result of population growth. The best solution for the planet and our quality of life is to make population growth stop, and ideally see population decrease.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Population growth is slowing itself. So we have that covered. And now what? Turns out, it's not enough, not even before considering that 2/3 of this population is still in developing countries, which are going to increase their emission levels in the pursuit of decent quality of life.
- NotPaidToPost 7y ago
  And thus population control is critical... QED. We don't have that covered at all at the moment: We are already 7 billions and will possibly be 11+ billions by the end of the century. That's insane. Let's not forget that emissions are only a tiny part of the pressure we put on the environment.
  - adrianN 7y ago
    Unless you plan on killing the top 90% GHG emitters over the next fifteen years or so, reducing population levels is not an option. Slowing population growth is important, but it's not a solution.
    - NotPaidToPost 7y ago
      One of the problems we have is people not being able to take a long term view. Everything has always to work within 5 years... Result: nothing is done. What I wrote should have started at least 30 years ago. As the saying goes, the next best time to start is now.
      - adrianN 7y ago
        Unfortunately we have by now reached the time where options that aren't mostly done in ten years come too late to prevent catastrophic climate change.
        NotPaidToPost 7y ago
        It's going to be hard to do anything with the projected 60% population rise by the end of the century, though... Most of the environmental damage is down to our growing population gobbling up resources. Of course we should do things to get results quickly but we also have to look longer term if we want to see sustainable results.
        adrianN 7y ago
        You're right but in my opinion, we'll either figure out how to live carbon neutral more or less regardless how many people we have in the next two decades, or catastrophic climate change will ensure that the projected population rise will never happen.

Population is the result of population growth. The best solution for the planet and our quality of life is to make population growth stop, and ideally see population decrease.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Population growth is slowing itself. So we have that covered. And now what? Turns out, it's not enough, not even before considering that 2/3 of this population is still in developing countries, which are going to increase their emission levels in the pursuit of decent quality of life.

NotPaidToPost 7y ago
And thus population control is critical... QED. We don't have that covered at all at the moment: We are already 7 billions and will possibly be 11+ billions by the end of the century. That's insane. Let's not forget that emissions are only a tiny part of the pressure we put on the environment.
- adrianN 7y ago
  Unless you plan on killing the top 90% GHG emitters over the next fifteen years or so, reducing population levels is not an option. Slowing population growth is important, but it's not a solution.
  - NotPaidToPost 7y ago
    One of the problems we have is people not being able to take a long term view. Everything has always to work within 5 years... Result: nothing is done. What I wrote should have started at least 30 years ago. As the saying goes, the next best time to start is now.
    - adrianN 7y ago
      Unfortunately we have by now reached the time where options that aren't mostly done in ten years come too late to prevent catastrophic climate change.
      - NotPaidToPost 7y ago
        It's going to be hard to do anything with the projected 60% population rise by the end of the century, though... Most of the environmental damage is down to our growing population gobbling up resources. Of course we should do things to get results quickly but we also have to look longer term if we want to see sustainable results.
        adrianN 7y ago
        You're right but in my opinion, we'll either figure out how to live carbon neutral more or less regardless how many people we have in the next two decades, or catastrophic climate change will ensure that the projected population rise will never happen.