By Frosty Wooldridge

Part 10: too many people, too little water, too little energy, too little resources



In a brilliantly written book, Too Many People by Lindsey Grant, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Population Affairs, he brought a lifetime of global experience into his profoundly direct book.



No matter how much the mainstream media, which includes all major television networks, radio and print—do, to avoid, ignore and evade the population issue—it rears its ugly head in every newscast—daily across the United States and around the world.



Notice how National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Service and local TV stations do not mention or engage any connection of any problem of “too many people.” For example: if you wander through the streets of India, their ‘sacred cow’ is actually a cow. And, those cows by the hundreds of thousands wonder all over the streets in India, creating horrid cow waste, urine waste and generally mess up everything, but since Indians consider them ‘sacred’, no one will do anything about them.



While ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX report on terrible problems with collapsing fisheries, extinction rates, air pollution, acidified oceans and climate destabilization—they won’t touch the ‘sacred cow’ of human overpopulation. They cannot avoid its brutal reality much longer.



“In this essay, I will survey the current evidence and make the case that we can turn the present deteriorating system around only by ending infatuation with growth and embracing the idea of a return to a smaller population,” said Grant. “Our future depends on learning to come into better balance with the rest of nature and to find a sustainable relationship we have yet to achieve.”



SOMETHING NEW ON EARTH



“Human systems have grown to the point at which the damage we do has become intolerable, not only to other species,[Human encroachment causes the extinction of 80 to 100 species daily around the globe. The die-off is so great that it is called the ‘sixth extinction’ session.], and thus, dangerous to our own future,” said Grant. “As our problems have been caused or compounded by the growth of populations and economic activity, their solutions requires that we turn growth around.”



Consequently, we stand at a critical juncture as indicated by Dr. Jack Alpert, www.skil.org, where he calls for a ‘rapid population decline’ of one child per woman worldwide if we are to survive the 21st century. He makes the cogent case, that if we desire to live at the present wealth and resource use level as the United States, we must drop to 100 million humans worldwide. If we fail to make the drop gracefully by birth control and family planning, Mother Nature will do it for us, rather brutally. See Alpert’s video: Rapid Population Decline, seven minute video by Dr. Jack Alpert- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWduFB_RX0





Grant states the ugly obvious, “All these issues have a self-evident connection to population growth. I find it astonishing that the technically literate seldom touch upon that connection and never—almost literally never—mention population policy as part of the solution.”



Energy expert Richard Heinberg said the same thing after last year’s Global Climate Conference in Denmark:



"...the discussions in Denmark took place in a conceptual fantasy world in which climate change is the only global crisis that matters much; in which rapid economic growth is still an option; in which fossil fuels are practically limitless; in which a western middle class staring at the prospect of penury can be persuaded voluntarily to transfer a significant portion of its rapidly evaporating wealth to other nations; in which subsistence farmers in poor nations should all aspire to become middle-class urbanites; and in which the subject of human overpopulation can barely be mentioned.



... It's no wonder more wasn't achieved in Copenhagen." http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=311db31977054c5ef58219392&id=1853646c28&e=411677039a



In Grant’s second chapter, he hits on the simple reality of our predicament, “The United States’ population was 75 million in 1900. It is now about 275 million. It may well grow to 404 million by 2050. Migration pressure is a product of overcrowding on the land, of unemployment and wage differentials, all of which are driven by population growth. Those driving forces would subside if somehow the growth should stop or turn around.” [Too Many People published in 2000, and by October 2006, U.S. population reached 300 million. Current predictions say U.S. will reach 438 million by 2050, which shows how fast population has exceeded Grant’s predictions.]



FASTER AND FASTER TO A HIGHLY DESTRUCTIVE ENDING



In my world travels, I witnessed horrific ocean damage in dead zones at the mouths of rivers out of the U.S., China, India, Brazil and Europe. Really ugly stuff! Also, it’s beyond imagination that humans could and are, for the past 20 years, killing 100 million sharks annually. Humans ‘clear cut’ the oceans with 40 mile long drift nets that grab everything and kill it. Then, when cut away and left hanging on reefs, those plastic nets continue slaughtering millions of hapless marine creatures forever.



“The whole world is engaged in a pell-mell race to grow faster—driving toward an impossible objective. It is a daunting objective: the idea of a race to increase economic activity in a world already under stress,” said Grant.



THE FINAL ARBITERS FOR HUMAN EXPANION: WATER AND FOOD



While we enjoyed the ‘green revolution’ to produce more food back in the 1970s, it unfortunately resulted in another three billion humans added to planet in a blink of time.



To give you an idea of how crazy our human predicament: Bangladesh, with a landmass the size of Iowa, carries an astounding 144 million people. Demographers predict they will add another 100 million in 40 years with their extraordinary birthrates. Canadian environmentalist Tim Murray laments, “Humans are too dumb to survive.”

Currently, you can look this up: 18 million human beings die of starvation or starvation related diseases annually around the world. (Source: World Health Organization) That’s eight million adults and 10 million children.



Grant talks about food and we will address that in the next part of this series.



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PART 1: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA--OUR PERILOUS FUTURE

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~736396.aspx

PART 2: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA—FROG IN THE POT METAPHOR

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~738079.aspx

PART 3: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA—1,700 PEOPLE ADDED TO CALIFORNIA DAILY

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~739521.aspx

PART 4: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA-NOBODY EVER DIES OF OVERPOPULATION

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~741327.aspx



PART 5: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA-POISONING OUR WORLD

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~742494.aspx



PART 6: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA—ACCELERATED POISONING OF OUR WORLD

By Frosty Wooldridge

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~745408.aspx



PART 7: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA-QUALITY OF LIFE IN AN OVERCROWDED WORLD

By Frosty Wooldridge

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~749655.aspx

PART 8: OVERPOPULATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA—ENDLESS GROWTH LEADS TO LOWERED QUALITY OF LIFE

http://denver.yourhub.com/Denver/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~753970.aspx

If any of us, no matter what our race, creed or color might be, refuse to engage our U.S. Congress as we have not for 30 years as to the population/immigration equation—our children will find themselves living in a terribly degraded America where the American Dream will be described by the history books as a ‘fleeting fantasy’ from the era of 1950 to 2010. These are several of the top organizations where you can take collective action to change the course of American history as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Take collective action at www.numbersusa.com ; www.fairus.org ; www.capsweb.org ; www.thesocialcontract.com ; www.populationmedia.org ; www.worldpopulationbalance.org ; www.populationconnection.org ; www.quinacrine.com ; www.familyplanning.org/ , www.skil.org ; www.growthbusters.com ; www.populationpress.org ; www.thinkpopulation.org ; www.carryingcapacity.org ; www.balance.org ; www.controlgrowth.org ; in Canada www.immigrationwatchcanada.org ; in Australia www.population.org.au and PublicPopForum@yahoogroups.com ; in Great Britain www.optimumpopulation.org ; and dozens of other sites accessed at www.frostywooldridge.com.

International Services Assistance Fund web site: www.isafonline.org , please contact Mr. Don Collins at dcoll28416@aol.com for more information.



Must see DVD: “Blind Spot” http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/blind_spot/ , This movie illustrates America’s future without oil, water and other resources to keep this civilization functioning. It’s a brilliant educational movie! www.blindspotdoc.com



Must see: Rapid Population Decline, seven minute video by Dr. Jack Alpert-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWduFB_RX0



Must see and funny: www.growthbusters.org ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXSTrW_dARc

Dave Gardner’s Polar Bear in Bedroom: http://growthbusters.org/2010/03/save-the-polar-bear-in-your-bedroom ; Dave Gardner, President, Citizen-Powered Media ; Producing the Documentary, GROWTH BUSTERS; presents Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity, Join the cause at www .growthbusters.org ;760 Wycliffe Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 USA; +1 719-576-5565



Chris Clugston: Following is a high level summary of a detailed analysis of America’s “predicament” and it’s inevitable consequences. The complete analysis and associated models, evidence, and references can be found at http://www.wakeupamerika.com/PDFs/On-American-Sustainability.pdf. On American Sustainability—Anatomy of a Societal Collapse (Summary)

coclugston@comcast.net ; www.wakeupamerika.com



Exceptional books on this subject:

Too Many People by Lindsey Grant

Peak Everything: Facing a Century of Declines by Richard Heinberg

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler



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Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as six times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents “The Coming Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it” to civic clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com He is the author of: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans. Copies available: 1 888 280 7715

Labels: overpopulation in America