Is it an Elephant or Gorilla?

Why you guys ignorin' me?

Is population the gorilla or elephant in the room? You know, that big giant thing that no one wants to talk about, but the same thing that's causing most of the problems ...

A thanks to my colleague Dave Gardner who shared with me a great website today:

http://www.populationelephant.com/

On this site there is an essay titled "The Problems With the Problem" which is brutally honest and reinforces what I've been trying to say for years.

Simply put, an exploding population is impacting global climate change, energy and food consumption, species extinction, etc. Yet, I regularly see articles saying we need to have MORE BABIES to help support retired people, help the economy, etc. I am not sure why so many intelligent humans are bent on self destruction.

So, as the essay points out, there are FIVE FATAL PROBLEMS with addressing population:

1. There is no money in shrinking human population. And as I grow older I've learned one thing: It's all about money, baby.
   
   
2. It's not my problem, man. The real crap won't hit the fan until most of us are dead. Let's forget about the fact that we are condemning our children to a likely hell.
   
   
3. The world's fundamental systems oppose it. Capitalism feeds on growth like a hungry locust. It just consumes EVERYTHING until everything is gone. Religions condone population growth. ALL religions are wacky, and often the only way to grow a certain belief is to "grow the flock." Besides, millions of people believe their deity is going to come and rescue them. Oh, and if you are a fundamentalist Christian you believe the world will be destroyed anyway, so what the hell.
   
   
4. The problem has no voice. Political correctness has caused environmental groups to take a soft approach to population. You just can't say "have less babies" because, oh my GOD, you might hurt someone's feelings.
   
   
5. The obvious solution is not talked about. If we encouraged one child per family we could lower population to a sustainable level. But instead, famous environmentalists like Tom Friedman and Al Gore suggest a technological fix to our problems.

The best two ways to help the environment are to reduce family size and reduce consumption!

It doesn't get any simpler than that. But, anyway, please read the article: "The Problem With the Problem."

A couple of great quotes:

Population growth is the 800 lb gorilla in the room constantly being ignored. It's clear that continual expansion of humanity is the real reason for a perpetually growing economy. Now that energy costs are rising and economic growth is slowing, look at how the economy has reacted. America and other industrialized nations are going to have a real problem with a subsistence-level economy.

— Fred Kaluza, posted on WarSocialism discussion list

There will continue to be ultra-conservatives who detest the idea that women have control over their own bodies; there will always be those narrow-minded traditionalists who hide behind their "love" for the unborn, despite the fact that they oppose all government support for children already born.

— Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial page editor