ISSN: 2456-8090

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26440/IHRJ/0404.07157

The Apocalyptic Triad of Anthropocentric Bigotry, Economic Hyperactivity and Population Overgrowth Will End Up Killing This Wonderful Planet (World Population Day Guest Comment)

Abhay Thakur

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Thakur A. The Apocalyptic Triad of Anthropocentric Bigotry, Economic Hyperactivity and Population Overgrowth Will End Up Killing This Wonderful Planet (World Population Day Guest Comment). Int Healthc Res J. 2020;4(4):75-76. https://doi.org/10.26440/IHRJ/0404.07157

Author Details: (*: Corresponding Author)

M. Pharm, Pharmacovigilance Specialist, Chandigarh, India

Emai-id: abhayopthakur[at]gmail [dot]com

What a wonderful world?? It may have been a wonderful world upon a time but let us FORGET for a second - climate change due to human activity. We currently live in a world with worldwide deforestation, soil salinity, collapsing ecosystems. Insect populations like bees, butterflies among others are dwindling due to the overuse of pesticides and herbicides, 67% of animal species are in terminal decline. Overfishing, poisoning with massive amounts of chemical waste and pollutants in our creeks, rivers and waterways. Countless major oil spills, microplastics in our oceans and waterways which is finding its way into the food chain. Worldwide corruption, rising world crime rates, the mass immigration problems, GMO crops. Also, cow 'emissions' being more damaging to planet than CO2 from cars, and economic hyperactivity (which bears corporate greed). All these problems are real and factual! The list just goes on and me personally, I don't know what the answer is to these problems or what the solution could be.

However, I do feel overpopulation is the root to all these problems or is a major confounder at the very least. Having said that, Solving the population problem is not going to solve everything. But if you don’t solve the population problem, you’re not going to solve any of those problems I listed; they all go hand in hand. Whatever problem you’re interested in, you’re not going to solve it unless you also solve the population problem. If overpopulation is not addressed, we will all be in dire straits eventually, it's only a matter of time.

I recently watched a TV documentary on the catastrophic effect on Asian rivers from the throwaway clothing industry which serves the demand in Western countries. We don't need to waste that much. We throw away change-of-fashion clothes, unconsumed food, sometimes even fully functioning electronics because obviously we need the new iPhone. There is NO evidence to show that the newly enriched poor billions will not behave the same way. Take us Indians as an example, our parents use things judicially since they did not have a lot to begin with but we the NEW rich are wasteful.

To get ahead, China seeks to compete on price. By doing that, they HAVE succeeded in devastating European, American and Indian manufacturing, but in the process, they often export to us faulty products that fall apart within weeks or months. How wasteful of resources is that, resources that you and I both know are dwindling by the day??? And I feel it all stems from an inherent unsustainable and an uncertain future because of the constant population overgrowth which fuels economic hyperactivity leading to corporate greed.

Another issue is worldwide corruption. Severe poverty in most countries - in ALL countries - is due to the rich exploiting the poor. Africa has huge mineral resources, vast areas of unused land, and a climate in which you can grow practically anything! But what incentive has a corrupt government to educate the poor (something which would reduce the birth rate and nip it in the bud)? The first thing the educated poor do is start a revolution, demanding a bigger share of the wealth. No corrupt government wants to empower the poor and share wealth and power, so they leave them be uneducated.

The only practical/realistic/feasible solution that a layman like me can think of is harsh, but populations that can be characterized as having aggressive demography (like India) must be limited by means that will become ever more restrictive with the passage of time such that the overall population will be made to contract. I would argue that we are already past sustainability in our country and measures should have already been taken, somewhat similar to, yet not as extreme as China's now discontinued one child policy. As nightmarish as it may seem, it is perhaps unavoidable. I don't know if the political will can be found in time to save the planet, but,   if   that  will  can  be  found   that  too is concerning. The other is a ‘death rate solution,’ in which ways to raise the death rate (- war, famine, pestilence, Covid-19 –) find us.

But hold on, Look at the whole northern, and southern American continent. Only a few live there. Compare this with India, if small landmass as India can support more than a billion people, earth can support at least 20 billion people and more. The entire population of our planet at this moment in time could fit into Australia, with each person having 1/4 acre of land. But would you want to live in that world?