Some of the aforementioned complainers are kind enough to offer solutions to the various problems, but I can't help but think one solution would knock out the vast majority of them all at once: population control.
I'll readily admit, for example, that Americans' meat-heavy diets aren't sustainable due to how much land and feed is required for the vast quantities of delicious cows we consume, but if we weren't feeding so many people we wouldn't need so many cows.
Class sizes too big in our schools? Maybe that's because there are too many children.
Unemployment? More people than jobs? We need fewer people.
Noxious clouds of pollutants? Global warming? Melting polar ice caps? All of these problems would be lessened--if not solved altogether--by a reduction in the number of humans we're asking our planet to support.
I'm not saying that a world with, say, two billion people instead of seven plus would be all roses and bunny rabbits. Plenty of our myriad maladies would need specific cures applied.
What I'm saying is that almost every single problem that humans face is either directly caused by or exacerbated by our massive population, and the voices calling for a population reduction are few, far between, and softly spoken.
Why is this?
It's not like we don't know what's causing all of these births (for those who don't, I would refer you to the aforementioned most popular topic of the Internet).
Do we assume, perhaps, that it's just an unrealistic expectation? I'm convinced that this (fallacious) assumption is indeed to blame.
The instinct to reproduce is a strong one; I'd imagine that survival is the only one that outranks it. But our instincts can be fooled. Go have a ton of sex and your reproduction instinct will be satisfied; use birth control and you (probably) won't be making any little humans.
We all know this. And while there are more than a few unplanned pregnancies happening, most people learn their lesson after one or two "surprises" and surgically remove themselves from the breeding pool.
I'm willing to forgive the unintentional reproducers. These things happen, and as I mentioned most people who aren't total morons will figure out after one or two that they'd better clamp some tubes before they've got a whole baseball team worth of kids running around their home.
It's the people doing this on purpose that perplex me and in large part are causing the problem. Worse yet, I can't think of a good reason why.
I've discussed this sort of thing with plenty of people over the years, especially if they mention to me their desire to have children. Upon asking them why they want to have children, I'm met more often than not with blank stares and an inability to answer. They don't know why they want to have children. Those who do answer often say something along the line of "To carry on my family name," which is fucking retarded (to put it politely). You're not the king of France. Your family name probably exists elsewhere on the planet and if it doesn't, does it matter?
The next most common response is something along the lines of "To have someone to love," which is all well and good but do you really need five someones to love? Even three seems a bit much. Seriously, how much love do you have in there? Get a dog or something.
Some will say that having kids "Would be fun" or "I want to have a daughter to dress up in pretty clothes" or similar nonsense.
YOUR CHILD IS NOT A DOLL. YOUR CHILD IS NOT A TOY.
One of the most frightening things I see in potential parents is their complete failure to consider that what they're making is another human being, not a source of their own entertainment. You're condemning this child to 65 or so years on Earth. Think long and hard about that before bringing another life into this world solely for your amusement.
Most people today don't have enough time for themselves, much less a horde of children. A hundred years ago, with infant mortality rates higher and more people needing kids to help on the farm it was understandable for parents to pop out a few extras, but those reasons are obsolete.
What reason is left?
I'm well aware that very few people can be convinced to forgo having kids entirely, but is it really so much to ask that we only have one or an absolute maximum of two?
It's either that or we have to convince the elderly to die sooner.
I've explained why I believe in limiting one's reproduction, but I want to emphasize the question I asked in the beginning: Why don't we hear about this more often? I can't be the only one who understands this.
Are we so selfish that we feel it's necessary to create an army of playthings for ourselves, heedless of the fact that they'll grow up to be as miserable as we are?
Are we so foolish that we think recycling, veganism, and electric cars will be a more effective environmental strategy than simply reducing the number of people making the trash we need to recycle and using the various products for which we're hacking down the rainforests?
You can't be an environmentalist and have eight kids.
You can't complain about how horrible this world has become and then turn around and thrust four more people into it.
Want to save the Earth? Depopulate it.
"Overcrowded Earth" image plundered from liveforevernow.com, ironically enough.
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