Another week of population articles, the first few from The Age:
“Our population explosion: more people, more damage”, 23/9; “Let’s think twice about growth by immigration”, 28/9. Opinion piece by Ross Gittins, on the wilful blindness of politicians towards the negative effects of population growth.
“Migration waves”, 26/9. Australia has a high rate of immigration, but is poorly-prepared to deal with the consequences of this.
“Australia’s population fairytale”, 28/9. Australia’s efforts at reducing greenhouse emissions are made futile by its high population growth.
While the Prime Minister was away, figures were released by the Treasurer in Canberra, and by the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, which showed Australia had the fastest-growing population in the industrialised world, and it is projected to reach 35 million in 40 years.
“Water wars loom in a nation of parched fields”, 26/9. Water shortages are already happening in parts of the world, and India is one such place – failed monsoons have farmers fighting over what water supplies are left.
According to Vandana Shiva, water shortages could split Indian communities along deeply entrenched divisions of caste and religion. “What we will start seeing is localised conflicts over water,” she says. “As livelihoods evaporate, along with water, you will see all sorts of cracks opening up in society.” Conflict is also possible between India’s majority rural population and its bursting cities. “People with power live in cities and, as the water crisis is deepening, what remains is being increasingly delivered to the cities,” says Shiva.
[…]
Scientists say the annual monsoon, on which about 40 per cent of India’s farmers depend, is likely to become more unpredictable. At the same time, the Himalayan glaciers that feed great rivers of the subcontinent upon which hundreds of millions of people rely are receding at a worrying rate. The World Bank says climate change alone could reduce the subcontinent’s crop yields by 30 per cent by the mid-21st century. Meanwhile, India adds more than 20 million new mouths to feed every year.
The predicted future of environmental disasters is here already, but most people go about their daily lives unheeding. Another grim article is “Animal Extinction – the greatest threat to mankind”, Independent, 30/4/2007, on the sixth great extinction of many species that also goes mostly unnoticed – much of it due to human activity.
We now understand that the majority of life on Earth has never been – and will never be – known to us. In a staggering forecast, Wilson predicts that our present course will lead to the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100. You probably had no idea. Few do. A poll by the American Museum of Natural History finds that seven in 10 biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal threat to human existence, a more serious environmental problem than even its contributor, global warming; and that the dangers of mass extinction are woefully underestimated by almost everyone outside science. In the 200 years since French naturalist Georges Cuvier first floated the concept of extinction, after examining fossil bones and concluding “the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some sort of catastrophe”, we have only slowly recognised and attempted to correct our own catastrophic behaviour.
New Scientist magazine had a population-themed issue for its 23/9 issue, the articles accessed at “The population delusion” link. The population problem is described as “complex”, in that it is not merely due to numbers of people. One writer, a “techno-optimist” believes that a population of 20 billion could be supported using technological advances. I suppose that would involve cramming millions into megacities like caged battery hens – no thanks! Even if that is possible, it doesn’t mean it should be done. The “technology can solve everything” mentality is dangerous, and is no substitute for simply limiting population growth.
