36. Climate Memo Mondays, August 16, 2021
Overpopulation
8 Billion Angels Film
Tom Flynn. “Will World Population Drop Far Enough, Fast Enough?”
Carl Safina. “Avoiding a ‘Ghastly Future’: Hard Truths on the State of the Planet”
POPULATION GROWTH, OVERPOPULATION
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Two Articles in Free Inquiry(August/September 2021) confront the future with Overpopulation Alerts .
Tom Flynn. “Will World Population Drop Far Enough, Fast Enough?”
Global population is nearing eight billion, which is “already far in excess of what the planet can sustain long term.” Estimates of the world’s optimum population range from “a few hundred million” to “2.5 billion.” Flynn cites an estimate for US optimum population of 150 million, but he would severely limit US growth, especially immigrants, because of its unsustainable lifestyle and economic system. “Though it’s not the whole solution, one fine way to have fewer greenhouse gas emissions is to have fewer human beings emitting them,” particularly in countries of high per capita emissions.
Carl Safina. “Avoiding a ‘Ghastly Future’: Hard Truths on the State of the Planet”
This article is a summary of a report by 17 leading ecologists he summarizes as “a stark warning about the snowballing crisis caused by climate change, population growth, and unchecked development”: “Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future.” “Ecologists understand that building an ever-larger human enterprise has resulted in putting more of the world through a macerator at the expense of the rest of life on earth and generations unborn. , , ,The most fundamental driver of putting more material into our enterprise, human population growth, is on track to continue.”