



68 “Population; My Opinion”

I am going to write this hub about a very delicate and sensitive subject. This is a subject that no one really wants to talk about or even think about. Personally, I think about it a lot. It is about POPULATION.

There was a story on a show called “Body of Proof” not too long ago that faced this subject in a very serious way.

As the story went, there was an American terrorist that had taken it upon himself to do something about the population. He infected himself with a deadly virus that was spread by contact with blood and he started spreading the disease throughout the city. He had an anti-body that kept him alive to spread the disease but it was not a cure.

Anyway, what I am getting at is that we the people, not the government, have to start using common sense when it comes to raising a family and what size the family should be. I am not saying to stop raising families, but in this day and age we do not have to have large families.

I know that back 100 or so years ago, there were some families that had several children because as they grew up they were able to help on the farm, in the family business or even go out and work to help support the family. Those days are in the past and need to stay there.

Then there comes the more recent times when couples would have several children simply for the purpose of tax write-offs and there were the ones that had several children so that they could draw more welfare. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, these things were done by a lot of people, even though they don’t really make sense now. I guess they thought they did back then. Even though there are illegal immigrants that still do this today, and they aren’t the only ones, that is not what this article is about. This is strictly about the POPULATION and the fact that we the people need to start thinking about it.

I know that the stupidity of man with all of our past wars, some help from nature with past plagues and diseases, have helped the problem of over population to a point. But creating wars and diseases is not a way to control the population. I always wonder what the world would be like today had we not lost so many lives in past wars, dating back to before the Romans, and the black plague and such diseases that took so many lives in Europe. How many people would there be on this Earth today? China has always had a high population, maybe because they are one of the oldest and most successful civilizations ever, and they have started doing something about their over population. They are using government controlled birth control. Personally, I don’t even like the sound of that and I would never want to see that here.

I know that I am not the only one that thinks something needs to be done simply because of the show I spoke of earlier. I believe that story was trying to point out that over population will be a big problem in the not too distant future. There will become a time that even technology will not be able to supply enough food and water to accommodate the people of the world. And then there will be a need to create ways of disposing waste.

I am not even suggesting government intervention in this situation. There have been many movies made in the past that cover this problem, such as “Soylent Green”. That movie was a little far-fetched, but it makes one think. I haven’t seen very many in recent years because it is not a subject people like to talk about. I have heard things mentioned that that someone is going to decrease the population of the world with a nuclear bomb. Some say that’s why we create wars. That’s a terrible thought, isn’t it? Why kill people when we can avoid the problem by controlling the sizes of families now.

I just can’t see any reason for one couple to have 18 children, (maybe the extreme example) but why so many kids? And then chances are they will need help, (from welfare for example) to take care of them. Maybe it is a big loving family or maybe they just did it because they wanted attention, for whatever reason, why? Every family would be better off with 1 or 2, maybe 3, children.

I have pulled up some statistics from Wikipedia about population. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

As of 2011;

North America is the 4th most populous continent in the world; with 528,720,588. The U.S. is the 4th most populous country in the world; with 308,745,538.

As of April 9, 2012;

The U.S. is 3rd largest in total population behind People’s Republic of China and India, in that order. U.S. 313,326,000, 4.47% of the world population.

With this kind of growth the world population is estimated to be between 7.5 and 10.5 BILLION by the year of 2050. I know, the year 2050 is so far away that we don’t need to worry. Well , I can remember in 1960 I couldn’t even imagine being alive in 2012 or what it would even be like. 2050 will be here before anyone even realizes it. Luckily the U.S. is not among the most densely populated areas. It isn’t yet anyway.

All I can say is that the way the government is trying to control our lives these days, we the people had better do something about this situation ourselves and quit having so many kids. With the economy the way it is now people should be concentrating on smaller families anyway.

Anyway, this is my opinion and I welcome all others whether you agree with me or not.

Greg



