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No, Virginia, there isn’t a Santa Claus. Yes, climate deniers, human industry can and does affect earth’s natural systems. And yes, growth proponents, there is such a thing as overpopulation. While I have yet to encounter anyone who disagrees with this notion when presented with a small-scale example (i.e.,only so many people can live in any given apartment building), many of those same folks balk at the idea that earth itself has a holding capacity. Or a productive limit. The thinking seems to be that there will always be some new parcel of land to cultivate (there won’t), or that technological developments such as bioengineered agriculture or vertical farming will negate the need for more land (they won’t). The simple and incontrovertible truth lies in the most basic of economic models, which in turn has become the most fundamental of sustainability relationships: supply and demand. Finite resources cannot sustain infinite growth.
This is a topic I’m going to come back to repeatedly, but for now I want to share some info from the website of the UK-based Optimum Population Trust.
I’ll preface it, however, by saying that the debate surrounding
overpopulation has two distinct phases. The first, which itself can be
divided into dozens of phases, consists of determining just how many
people the planet can comfortably support. The second revolves around
the myriad ways in which that number can be achieved. The first is
mathematical, built on models of supply and demand. The second is much
more complex and controversial, with profound political and social
implications, and is many ways shaped by the conclusions of the first.
So, like the song says, let us start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start.
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