BY SOFO ARCHON
This is the transcript of a video published here.
Is the world really overpopulated?
Well, yes… and no. Let me explain.
If we take for granted our global, growth-based economic system, along with the consumer behavior of the dominant culture of the world, then yes, in a sense the world is overpopulated.
Humanity today is extracting and using up resources way faster than Earth can replenish them. In other words, humanity is living beyond Earth’s carrying capacity, which means that Earth cannot sustain humanity as it’s living right now.
But what if people started living differently? What if people started living frugally and cared for the natural world?
Then humanity could very well live within Earth’s carrying capacity.
For example, research shows that if everyone lived as ecologically as traditional villagers of India, then Earth could support about double the number of the current human population.
In contrast, if everyone lived like the average Northern American, then a planet of over 5 times the size of Earth would be required to sustain humanity.
So, the question that should concern us is not whether Earth can sustain all humans alive today, but the way those as a whole are living.
Yet most people speaking on the topic miss that point. They argue about the importance of controlling the human population in order to create a sustainable civilization, not realizing that even if the human population dropped from about 8 billion that it is today to 2 billion, it would still be unsustainable, as long as the ethic of consumerism and the growth-based economic system driving it remained unchanged.
You see, part of the problem is that most people want a quick fix to the serious and complex social and environmental issues we are faced with today, when deeper, systemic as well as spiritual changes are needed.
And unless we admit that, the “overpopulation” issue will only get worse.
Further reading:
For a deeper dive into this topic, click here.