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Overpopulation
Bridget Walsh on 15 September, 2011 |

"Overpopulation is when an organism’s numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. ‘Carrying capacity’ refers to the population size of a certain species that the environment can sustain indefinitely." - Ana Lenard, Geographer & Environmentalist, 2010

It’s common knowledge that we are chewing through the planet’s resources at a rate of knots. If we apply Ana’s definition to the human race, considering people as the organisms and the earth as the habitat, it’s quite clear that we are in a state of overpopulation.

It is theorised that a sustainable number for the human race is around the 2 billion mark. We are currently approaching 7 billion. You do the math.

“With our current rates of consumption, we really need 3 planets, not one. An extra 77 million new people are added to the gene pool each year.”

30,000 children die each day, that equates to one every three seconds. We have breached capacity in a big way, there are malnourished and unwanted children dying every few seconds, and still we continue to make more babies.

“It seems such an overwhelming problem but the key factor in finding a solution rests in open-mindedness, even to the point of challenging the age-old institution of reproduction.”

People seem to have the mentality that it will all figure itself out, that we will manage somehow. “Hey, we’re doing ok now, aren’t we?” Short answer? No. We’re not doing ok. Ask a few questions, dig a little deeper and you will see for yourself that we are most certainly not doing ok. The more babies we have, the more potential there is for their generation to have babies, and the excessive population growth will continue in a perpetual and exponential ripple effect.

“By the turn of the century, we will have an extra 2.5 billion humans on our planet. What must we do to reduce our impact? That is a contentious question, but one thing is for sure, we in the first world need to seriously think through, and likely reconsider, our reproduction habits.”

Not only do we need to reign in the number of mouths for the world to feed, but we need to reconsider how we utilise the planet’s resources on a global scale, to fill all those bellies. There are people starving, we have known this for years. While we in the West fill our boots and kill ourselves with diseases of affluence, over two billion people compensate for our disproportionate hoarding of the world’s food supply. These people are malnourished, starving, undereducated, unprotected, contracting all sorts of illnesses and diseases, the list goes on. While our part of the world ‘thrives’ on our own ignorance, their part of the world suffers for it. Where is the yogic balance or union in that?

To throw some buzz words and statistics out there, it is estimated that you can feed 18 people on a plant-based diet from the same area of land as you can feed only 1 omnivore. It’s said to take 10kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef. That’s 10kg of grain which could have been eaten by humans, instead of being used to fatten up an animal for slaughter, simply because someone, somewhere, with resources to burn, felt like a steak.

“Our concern for the planet must reach beyond what we buy at the supermarket and the number of carbon miles we save each day. Our concern must reach right to the centre of our stomachs, our hearts and (dare I say it) our bedrooms.”

People don’t like to talk about it, in fact it’s almost taboo to question someone’s ‘right’ to reproduce. In it’s essence, every human should have the opportunity to raise a small family, and extend their gene pool to further generations. In saying that though, every human should also have the basic right to decent food, clean water, safe shelter, education, contraception and fair opportunity. We’ve allowed things to reach this state. We’ve known the path has been rocky and doomed for a while now, but we are yet to make the large scale changes necessary to rectify the horror and imbalance happening all over the world. So we have to accept that our biological ‘need’ for 2.5 children and a white picket fence is simply not on par with an abandoned or starving child’s need for medicine, shelter or clean water. Not to mention some sort of love and security.

“Adoption of children is a great way to go. You get the benefits of having a family and the experience of raising your own children. Not only do you actively not contribute to overpopulation, you actually have the potential to reduce the effects of overpopulation through the sustainable education you can give to your children, which they in turn will use to have a constructive influence on the world. Viewing the world in a disconnected way (‘those people over there’) is what got us in this mess in the first place!”

We need to recognize and take collective responsibility for the problems the world is facing. We are the lucky ones, with access to sound government, clean water, education, welfare, medicine...yoga. We have the knowledge and skills at our disposal to make a positive difference to our lives and the lives of others. Many people aren’t so lucky. Even if you believe in the concept of reincarnation, it’s safe to say people aren’t choosing to be born into poverty, corruption and disease.

“The only way we can hope to shift global attitudes about reproduction and sustainability is through leading by example. Thinking globally and acting locally truly will change the world. Let us embrace a collectivist future. There is no us and them as long as there is one planet.