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In the context of the environment and more specifically climate change, it's not overpopulation per se but a growing middle class. The middle class, drives cars
by chiefalchemist 6y ago
In the context of the environment and more specifically climate change, it's not overpopulation per se but a growing middle class. The middle class, drives cars, have larger homes (to heat, cool and furnish) and so on.
A million people in poverty is not the same as a million living a traditional middle class lifestyle.
- Fricken 6y agoIt's either middle class people consuming huge amounts of resources per person, or it's subsistence dwellers cranking out 5 kids for every fertile woman.
- TulliusCicero 6y agoThe latter seems to be solving itself, as birth rates are steadily on the decline. Though it tends to happen in conjunction with development (and thus more intensive energy usage).
- Phenomenit 6y agoThen we should find the optimal point of socio-economic development with regards to co2 emissions? Or is upward mobility impossible to remove from the system?
- Fricken 6y agoI don't think finding that optimum is a hard problem. Convincing the world to abide by it is.
- chiefalchemist 6y agoIn general...where there are 5+ children there is very little hope; there is extreme poverty (read: little consumption); and so on. Children don't survive in those environments. Higher birthrates is a family's / culture's answer to that. It's playing the odds. Put another way, if there was consumption to Western middle class levels, there would be no need to have 5+ children. This is why, as a middle class grows, birth rates fall.