Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Snooze
I find it a little bit interesting (only a little) that even among our conservative governments (I mean conservative as "disposed to preserve existing conditions" not as a category of political persuasion) climate change is beginning to be superficially acknowledged and the media often has stories relating to climate change but there is hardly ever a mention of population and when it does get mentioned it is usually in the same sentence as immigration. I am suggesting this is because increasing population is often seen as a way to boost economic growth.
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I have noticed that too; there is less denial. There are two explanations: either there is a shift in opinion in light of continuous data and personal experience, or the oil lobbyists and political backers are telling them to back down. Why the latter? Some coal, oil and gas companies are supporting green technology because the reduction of nuclear and the increase in solar and wind and the increase in electric cars has actually increased the need for coal, oil and gas plants to stabilize the power grid. Eventually these utilities will end, but temporarily, they will see more use.
Agreed. A declining population could lead to negative economic growth if consumption didn’t increase, and this is different than a depression, but for a capitalistic society, this is bad. Growth, growth, growth. The problem is the world can’t support the current status quo, but it really couldn’t support the US level of consumption and waste if everyone had our standard of living. Realistically, we need to be like under a billion and figure out a way to live sustainably. That isn’t going to happen soon without nuclear war or a horrific pandemic. Our best bet is family planning, birth control, abortion, child caps, etc. In many countries, the population is already declining, but it could be too little too late.