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My impression is that most people who talk about overpopulation are basing it on old trends before population growth rates dropped off so much.
by JeremyBanks 6y ago
My impression is that most people who talk about overpopulation are basing it on old trends before population growth rates dropped off so much.
- adrianN 6y agoIt is a fact that we're currently using a large number of resources much faster than they replenish. That seems like a good criterion for calling the planet overpopulated. One can of course argue that sufficient technology can curb our resource consumption without reducing the number of humans, but I find it a bit odd to use hypothetical technology deployment as an argument against the planet being beyond its sustainable carrying capacity today.
- RankingMember 6y agoI think a lot of the disagreement in the comments here comes down to different ideas wrt the definition of overpopulation. When I talk about overpopulation, I talk about a human population that reaches the point where it's detrimental to quality of life for all beings on earth. Sure, we can sustain population growth for a long time by continuing to destroy more and more of our natural resources and wantonly disregarding the existence of all other life on this planet (and ultimately, our own), but can anyone who cares about the whole of the planet really look at that and consider it a net positive? In my mind, an anthropocentric perspective is as misguided as a purely misanthropic one, and is certainly more evidently virulent.