It’s Hot and there are Too Many People?

All the talk about cutting emissions to save the planet helps provide a cover for a less discussed ,but very real concern of the climate agenda.

That belief is that the world population is growing to unsustainable numbers and is very connected to the Net Zero agenda. The threat of ‘overpopulation’ has been part of the environmental movement since it’s early days.

Climate activists are trying to convince the world that drastic measures, such as completely changing agriculture and energy and construction, are required to have enough water and land to grow the food we need to feed everyone. Not so many are mentioning overpopulation.

Recently the media has mostly focused on “excessive heat” and extreme weather, because it is more acceptable to discuss the weather than giving up meat, eliminating freedom, and reducing the population.

Not everyone is hiding this aspect of the climate agenda. The nonprofit group Population Matters worries that the UN Sustainable Development Goals do not address the reason for all of the other SDGs, too many people. They are quite panicked that not enough is being done to convince women to stop having more than one or two children.

The group’s true motivations are unknown, but they may have the right idea about family planning.

History of population control

Thomas Malthus was the first person to be recorded as having strong opinions on population growth. In 1798 he argued that an ever-larger population would inevitably cause misery and poverty.

Charles Darwin was a fan of Malthus and further developed his ideas into his own theories on human evolution and the survival of the fittest.

Margret Sanger and Francis Galton and Hitler were leaders in the eugenics movement which was concerned with making sure that only certain people were allowed to reproduce.

The Club of Rome’s Influence on Policies

In 1972 a meeting of the minds was held by a group who called themselves The Club of Rome. Using computer models they came to the conclusion that the world was going to be in trouble as far as resources if something did not change. They produced a report called Limits to Growth that includes their predictions based on what would happen under various scenarios.

“In 1972, The Limits to Growth was the first study to explore the possible impacts of the growing ecological footprint of population growth, human activities and its physical impacts on our finite planet from a systems perspective. The authors warned that if growth trends in population, industrialization, resource use and pollution continued unabated, we would reach, and then overshoot the carrying capacity of the Earth at some point during the first decades of the 21st century.” https://www.clubofrome.org/limits-to-growth/limits-and-beyond/

The more cynical doomsday prophets say the Paris Agreement is too little, too late. But others say ‘we can still save ourselves’ with radical and immediate policies to limit emissions, reduce consumption of nonrenewable resources, change our diets, and slow down population growth. The ideas of the Club of Rome underlie much of today’s UN SDGs and the global climate agenda.

Why We Must Let the Poor Plan their Families

Family planning is not about supporting ‘depopulation’. Life is precious and children and family are wonderful. But children are not treated the same around the world. Access to pregnancy prevention in poor countries, including information about natural family planning methods and birth control pills, gives women the opportunity to space their children out and limit how many they have which can result in their children having better nutrition and education. It also means that women without working husbands are less dependent on the government or their families.

While overpopulation is not a global survival issue, it can be a personal survival issue. Some countries DO have more people than they are currently effectively supporting. Overpopulation in these countries creates poverty, unemployment, orphans, child exploitation, homelessness, begging, disease, and oppression. Poverty leads to powerlessness in countries that do not value human life and dignity.

Culture often determines whether birth control is acceptable. In many religions and cultures, using birth control is prohibited. In others, having many children is something to be proud of, even if they can’t afford to feed them. Getting a woman pregnant is a sign of masculinity and prestige.

Women need to have the power to decide for themselves when to have children, especially those living without much hope for getting out of poverty. Smaller family size often leads to generational changes that help reduce poverty, just as it did in this country. If we give them birth control and teach them how to determine when they’re fertile, they’ll be able to prevent the need for abortions.

Conclusions

Overpopulation is not the problem. Climate change is not the problem. Continuing to get women pregnant, often against their wishes, with no ability to provide for those children is a big problem, but the real issue is poverty caused by greed, power imbalances, political corruption and sin. None of these systemic heart issues is going away anytime soon. In the meantime, educating women and couples on family planning and protecting the rights of women and children can alleviate much suffering.