A sobering idea : The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the worlds wildlife populations have been cut to 3/4 what they were just 3 decades ago :
Wildlife numbers plummet globally : WWF – AFP
Local resolve is warranted.
A link to a report is featured on the bottom of the page.
Comments
We can talk about trying to stop an astroid from wiping out all life on earth, but how do we stop civilization?
In 1970 there were 4 billion humans on the earth.
In 2008 there are over 6 billion humans on the earth.
IF wildlife populations dropped by 25% from 1970 to 2008,
then in 2050, when there will be 9-10 billion humans on the earth, wildlife populations will have dropped at LEAST another 30-40% from the 1970 numbers. Endangered wildlife will all end up in cooking pots.
We need to quit funding Departments of Commerce and Development, close our borders to immigration, and get off this chamber of commerce growth bandwagon that permeates our society. Human population control needs to start at home.
Human population is like a plague on earth. I pity all that cross our path.
Oops, I meant to say, “Human population growth is like a plague on earth.”
The problem with solving the human population problem is no one wants to volunter for the alternative.
All species end up being regulated by the enviroment they live in, humans have become incredibly adapted to there enviromentt and thus have been able to overtake a vast amount of land and have a huge population base. in time though the forces of nature will curb and check our own growth rate. I really hope I am not around when that happens.
One more thought,
Any one have any studies of our impact on wildlife since before the 1800’s, you would think that is when things started to get changed around..not 1970
Larry,
Even if the U.S. population leveled off, it wouldn’t change much. Our tropical forests are being logged so rapidly, satellite studies show they will be considered gone and fragmented by 2030.
That wood is shipped to Asia and the U.S. We would still be over-fishing the oceans, putting way too many green-house gases into the atmosphere, etc. The point of no return has been reached decades ago.
If you froze our economic growth where it is now, and never allowed another immigrant into the U.S., that would barely impact how fast the U.S. is swallowing the world’s natural resources.
Your solutions aren’t solutions at all.
A first step in at least stabilizing human population is very simple – tell your daughter, in as gentle and thoughtful a way as possible, “two is enough” or “two is just right”. Almost everyone implicitly understands this now, but it needs to be said. If you don’t have daughters then tell your granddaughter or a friend’s daughter, or at the very least contribute to Planned Parenthood. Shame on us if we continue to do nothing!
if materialism and consumerism continue to be the dominant ideologies that inform our ‘perpetual growth’ dependent notion of “standard of living” ~ it won’t matter if we halve the current human population — our technologic innovation will continue to afford greater and greater levels of consumption for the half that is left. we must learn to live better with less – to do more with less, to value experiences, family, or other intangibles that enrich our lives and “standard of living” in ways that do not deplete the natural world. we can do this by telling our daughters and sons to join us in experiences that demonstrate this alternative. it’s found in the very appreciation that this forum hopes to stoke regarding our relationship to the natural world.
furthermore, reduction of real poverty – not that “poverty” constructed of the materialism mentioned above – does more to reduce population than any oppressive state intervention – all while uplifting community in the meantime, and affording greater appreciation for the natural world.
these approaches – and many more – do not alienate folk at the most intimate levels imaginable – the love felt between a parent and child.
we’re not the problem with the natural world – it’s our relationship with the natural world that is the problem.
~ be more with less