Justin thank you for this article. Pointing to the "unspeakable" over-population issue is needed. As you note population is the great multiplier of all unsustainable actions.
thank you for your passion. I'm working with Stable Planet Alliance to communicate the need to wake up, step into the courage to speak out, helping wake up the world. And take action--on the system.
Small groups of like-minded people like Ben Franklin's Junto or the Front Porch Forum taking daily steps to relocalize, perhaps an alternative economic system revaluing volunteer work or sustainability efforts and/or a School of Living style land trust buying up key pieces of land to create dedicated nature corridors. Outside the confines of centralized govt or corporate structures as well as explicitly inclusive and apoltical.
AA's governance structure with traditions to protect the individual and group as well as the influence of Carl Jung (modern Gnostic) ensures the 3 legacies: unity of purpose, recovery from addiction in all forms and service. These basic principles may prove helpful in fighting the Demiurge that could be described as a pre-existing machine intelligence or world devourering monster?
So, in 225 yrs. VM has grown by 16+ times the population, while the world as a whole has grown 8+ times, and, yet, you make no mention in your "solution" list of family planning. The "overshoot" researchers estimate that we already need many more times the earth's natural resources to sustain our current 8,200,000,000 humans, about 3,000 times the last ecologically balanced clan/band based Hunter-Gatherer human population, just a few thousands of years ago. Territorial disputes kept those H-G clans containing no more than 150 members each in check and they were forced by necessity to maintain steady populations. Wake up! Think of the 168,000 children being born just today. What sort of life will they have, as our continuing to extract 8,000,000,000 tons of coal annually, and 100,000,000 barrels of oil daily, not to mention all of the other vanishing natural resources your article touches on and our collapsing climate. Still want to bring another innocent child into existence? If you do, you must accept the fact that you really don't give a damn for the life facing that child.
Industrial civilization is the primary reason for the population explosion, and it is the primary reason for global ecological overshoot. That’s why the primary solution is its dismantling. I’ve talked about family planning and women’s liberation in this context before as well. At the present moment, it seems more like rearranging the deck chairs. The U.S. has a low birth rate and is among the most destructive consumers globally. So that’s obviously not the “solution” itself. Population is more of a symptom than the direct cause.
I have written extensively about “population density stress” as the prime driver of ALL of our “diseases of civilization”, which I have devoted my life to defining and treating during my 42 yr. medical/psychiatric practice and about which i continue to write and study at age 80. I give away for free the online PDF “Stress R Us”, for the handful of scholars and curious lay public readers willing to wade through the 623 pages and 51 “Topics” (aka chapters).
I am eternally grateful to the good folks at Stanford (MAHB) for publishing the e-book in a number of earlier editions, through the final 2018 edition. Our numbers on this finite planet have exploded 3,000 times in just a few thousands of years, and our use of technology to drive our extractive natural resource transformations has allowed us to become consumptive far beyond the planet’s capacity to sustain us, let alone the 168,000 new humans born daily, 128,000 net increase.
That is “obviously” the truth as elaborated in “Stress R Us”, which you have most certainly not bothered to read. To discount the central importance of our massive human overpopulation is a fool’s errand.
There’s an assumption that I’m discounting it that isn’t true. Civilization itself wields the means by which population centers are made possible through surplus. I’m simply focusing on the cause rather than the symptom. As a doctor you ought understand that.
Thanks for the replies and our dialog, which any interested reader should find informative. I don't get the accusation of "immediate hostility" and still suggest that my work and book, "Stress R Us", delve more deeply into the massive human overpopulation problem than your touching on "hierarchy" and "industrial civilization". As important, as are your efforts. I lack the sophistication with internet writing skills/links that you obviously have, and of which I am grateful. "Hierarchy, status, dominance, and submission" is Topic (aka chapter) 25 of 51 in "Stress R Us". All of my work is from a medical/physiological perspective, and, thus, a different angle than yours. Have a blessed day! Gregg
Population is a factor but it’s not that simple guys. Per capita consumption, women’s welfare and international trade and finance are also key determinants. For example, look at how agricultural exports escalated in the post-war period...
“Agriculture in Vietnam - statistics & facts: Since the Doi Moi economic reform in the 1980s, Vietnam has transformed from being a nation heavily affected by food shortage to one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of many agricultural products, such as coffee, peanuts, and rice. The agriculture sector has been the largest employer across economic sectors in Vietnam, employing over 13.9 million Vietnamese in 2022.
Major agricultural products: After Vietnam’s trade liberalization and agricultural reforms, both the volume of production and the value of exports of the agriculture sector increased significantly. Since the 1990s, several major intensive monoculture systems emerged across the country, such as the rice monoculture in the Mekong Delta and the intensive production of coffee and pepper in the Central Highlands. Several other agricultural products have become major export commodities, such as coffee, pepper, cashew nuts, and rubber. In recent years, Vietnam has constantly been the second-largest coffee exporter globally, after Brazil. In addition to agricultural products, fishery and aquaculture products have also made significant contributions to Vietnam's economy. ”Income inequality is significant in Vietnam, with a noticeable income gap between the agricultural and non-farm sectors.”
It’s a well known fact that improving the lives of women and children leads to lower birth rates. Oh, and let’s not forget income inequality. The top 15% consume 90% of Earth’s “resources”.
And there it is... "...global markets demanding cheap shrimp, cheap coffee, cheap labor..."
It is increasingly clear that there are those who actually want to save the planet and those who don't. The former are vastly outnumbered - especially when among the latter are those who masquerade as the former with pithy saying like "I love animals", "I wish the government would do more to protect the environment" etc.
I would like to see this sort of analysis on all countries. Especially my home, Australia. In just 240 years we have devastated one of the world's last hunter gather societies living in what was essentially a pristine environment, a truly functioning sustainable civilisation.
I also agree that we can no longer compromise, or hope for "them" to fix the world's problems.
The challenge is how do we unite? And I mean truly unite into a bloc of voters and citizens who stand up at election time, and at the cash register and say enough is enough.
I would gladly join a cause, run for parliament etc. in order to make a stand, but, like many people I assume, I still need my job to pay for my family to have shelter and food.
Thank you Justin. Very well done and very sobering. Just struggling to survive and preserve our rights here in the United States is not a frivolous thing but by no means an answer to the real problem
Thanks Justin, this is so needed. Two pars in and I can't go on. But I'll get back to it - been rubbing my face in this reality pain for decades. Just tired. Literally, emotionally. Can't choose the timing, though. What option is there but to do what you can? And keep learning. And sharing.
Yup. Keeping your joy is resistance. When I think about the struggle, or the revolution… I think about it 1 hour at a time. Win the hour. We can’t think too much about winning the war.
Justin thank you for this article. Pointing to the "unspeakable" over-population issue is needed. As you note population is the great multiplier of all unsustainable actions.
thank you for your passion. I'm working with Stable Planet Alliance to communicate the need to wake up, step into the courage to speak out, helping wake up the world. And take action--on the system.
Paul Chefurka's "Climbing the Ladder of Awareness" is an interesting read.
http://www.paulchefurka.ca/LadderOfAwareness.html
Small groups of like-minded people like Ben Franklin's Junto or the Front Porch Forum taking daily steps to relocalize, perhaps an alternative economic system revaluing volunteer work or sustainability efforts and/or a School of Living style land trust buying up key pieces of land to create dedicated nature corridors. Outside the confines of centralized govt or corporate structures as well as explicitly inclusive and apoltical.
AA's governance structure with traditions to protect the individual and group as well as the influence of Carl Jung (modern Gnostic) ensures the 3 legacies: unity of purpose, recovery from addiction in all forms and service. These basic principles may prove helpful in fighting the Demiurge that could be described as a pre-existing machine intelligence or world devourering monster?
Well said.
And basically overpopulation.
So, in 225 yrs. VM has grown by 16+ times the population, while the world as a whole has grown 8+ times, and, yet, you make no mention in your "solution" list of family planning. The "overshoot" researchers estimate that we already need many more times the earth's natural resources to sustain our current 8,200,000,000 humans, about 3,000 times the last ecologically balanced clan/band based Hunter-Gatherer human population, just a few thousands of years ago. Territorial disputes kept those H-G clans containing no more than 150 members each in check and they were forced by necessity to maintain steady populations. Wake up! Think of the 168,000 children being born just today. What sort of life will they have, as our continuing to extract 8,000,000,000 tons of coal annually, and 100,000,000 barrels of oil daily, not to mention all of the other vanishing natural resources your article touches on and our collapsing climate. Still want to bring another innocent child into existence? If you do, you must accept the fact that you really don't give a damn for the life facing that child.
Industrial civilization is the primary reason for the population explosion, and it is the primary reason for global ecological overshoot. That’s why the primary solution is its dismantling. I’ve talked about family planning and women’s liberation in this context before as well. At the present moment, it seems more like rearranging the deck chairs. The U.S. has a low birth rate and is among the most destructive consumers globally. So that’s obviously not the “solution” itself. Population is more of a symptom than the direct cause.
I have written extensively about “population density stress” as the prime driver of ALL of our “diseases of civilization”, which I have devoted my life to defining and treating during my 42 yr. medical/psychiatric practice and about which i continue to write and study at age 80. I give away for free the online PDF “Stress R Us”, for the handful of scholars and curious lay public readers willing to wade through the 623 pages and 51 “Topics” (aka chapters).
I am eternally grateful to the good folks at Stanford (MAHB) for publishing the e-book in a number of earlier editions, through the final 2018 edition. Our numbers on this finite planet have exploded 3,000 times in just a few thousands of years, and our use of technology to drive our extractive natural resource transformations has allowed us to become consumptive far beyond the planet’s capacity to sustain us, let alone the 168,000 new humans born daily, 128,000 net increase.
That is “obviously” the truth as elaborated in “Stress R Us”, which you have most certainly not bothered to read. To discount the central importance of our massive human overpopulation is a fool’s errand.
There’s an assumption that I’m discounting it that isn’t true. Civilization itself wields the means by which population centers are made possible through surplus. I’m simply focusing on the cause rather than the symptom. As a doctor you ought understand that.
Further, your immediate hostility without inquiry on this and other topics is a valid critique. I have also written about population.
https://open.substack.com/pub/collapsecurriculum/p/tell-me-again-population-doesnt-matter?r=8pc4d&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for the replies and our dialog, which any interested reader should find informative. I don't get the accusation of "immediate hostility" and still suggest that my work and book, "Stress R Us", delve more deeply into the massive human overpopulation problem than your touching on "hierarchy" and "industrial civilization". As important, as are your efforts. I lack the sophistication with internet writing skills/links that you obviously have, and of which I am grateful. "Hierarchy, status, dominance, and submission" is Topic (aka chapter) 25 of 51 in "Stress R Us". All of my work is from a medical/physiological perspective, and, thus, a different angle than yours. Have a blessed day! Gregg
Thanks Gregg. Your book sounds fascinating.
It is!!!!
Population is a factor but it’s not that simple guys. Per capita consumption, women’s welfare and international trade and finance are also key determinants. For example, look at how agricultural exports escalated in the post-war period...
“Agriculture in Vietnam - statistics & facts: Since the Doi Moi economic reform in the 1980s, Vietnam has transformed from being a nation heavily affected by food shortage to one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of many agricultural products, such as coffee, peanuts, and rice. The agriculture sector has been the largest employer across economic sectors in Vietnam, employing over 13.9 million Vietnamese in 2022.
Major agricultural products: After Vietnam’s trade liberalization and agricultural reforms, both the volume of production and the value of exports of the agriculture sector increased significantly. Since the 1990s, several major intensive monoculture systems emerged across the country, such as the rice monoculture in the Mekong Delta and the intensive production of coffee and pepper in the Central Highlands. Several other agricultural products have become major export commodities, such as coffee, pepper, cashew nuts, and rubber. In recent years, Vietnam has constantly been the second-largest coffee exporter globally, after Brazil. In addition to agricultural products, fishery and aquaculture products have also made significant contributions to Vietnam's economy. ”Income inequality is significant in Vietnam, with a noticeable income gap between the agricultural and non-farm sectors.”
It’s a well known fact that improving the lives of women and children leads to lower birth rates. Oh, and let’s not forget income inequality. The top 15% consume 90% of Earth’s “resources”.
Source: https://www.statista.com/topics/5653/agriculture-in-vietnam/
And there it is... "...global markets demanding cheap shrimp, cheap coffee, cheap labor..."
It is increasingly clear that there are those who actually want to save the planet and those who don't. The former are vastly outnumbered - especially when among the latter are those who masquerade as the former with pithy saying like "I love animals", "I wish the government would do more to protect the environment" etc.
I would like to see this sort of analysis on all countries. Especially my home, Australia. In just 240 years we have devastated one of the world's last hunter gather societies living in what was essentially a pristine environment, a truly functioning sustainable civilisation.
I also agree that we can no longer compromise, or hope for "them" to fix the world's problems.
The challenge is how do we unite? And I mean truly unite into a bloc of voters and citizens who stand up at election time, and at the cash register and say enough is enough.
I would gladly join a cause, run for parliament etc. in order to make a stand, but, like many people I assume, I still need my job to pay for my family to have shelter and food.
And thus the trap.
Thank you Justin. Very well done and very sobering. Just struggling to survive and preserve our rights here in the United States is not a frivolous thing but by no means an answer to the real problem
Absolutely
Thanks Justin, this is so needed. Two pars in and I can't go on. But I'll get back to it - been rubbing my face in this reality pain for decades. Just tired. Literally, emotionally. Can't choose the timing, though. What option is there but to do what you can? And keep learning. And sharing.
Yup. Keeping your joy is resistance. When I think about the struggle, or the revolution… I think about it 1 hour at a time. Win the hour. We can’t think too much about winning the war.