Received: from smtp1.jps.net (smtp1.jps.net [209.63.224.236]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.8.5/8.8.4/CNS-4.1p-nh) with ESMTP id TAA16277 for ; Mon, 9 Nov 1998 19:27:31 -0700 (MST) Received: from jps.net (208-25-51-227.stk.jps.net [208.25.51.227]) by smtp1.jps.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id SAA00388 for ; Mon, 9 Nov 1998 18:27:22 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <3647A42A.A4B79F3C@jps.net> Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 18:25:46 -0800 From: Ted Toal MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ppn Subject: Re: The Poor Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Angela wrote: "....since as this child could see all around them, not everyone consumes the same amounts of resources. so: those who claim overpopulation as the problem are in fact ... arguing that those who have higher birth rates .... ARE THE PROBLEM. In today's world, such an argument is racist and it is a weapon against the poor, most of whom are not european, or australian, or north american." Simply wrong. The impact of people on the environment is equal to the PRODUCT of the average impact of one person and the total number of people. In developing countries, the former is small and the latter large, while in the developed countries the reverse is true. In both cases, the impact is highly significant. Growth of the U.S. population by 1 person per hectare is more-or-less equivalent, from an impact point of view, to growth of the population of Bangladesh by about 300 per hectare. Both rich and poor countries are contributing to the problem, and both need to reverse their population growth. Trying to trace the factors that result in the existing fertility rates of both rich and poor countries is an impossibly complex task. Certainly poverty plays a role, and certainly the "solution" must therefore address poverty. No one is trying to blame overpopulation on poor countries and further, no one expects them to deal with it by themselves. You cannot decide that overpopulation is not a problem simply because you don't like what you think might be the implications of that. It IS a problem, and we must understand and accept the implications and find the solutions. There is absolutely no need to place blame, to put forth calls of racism, to blame the poor, blame the rich, etc. That is completely counterproductive. The process that is happening now, the extreme demands being placed on the planet by a human population far beyond any reasonable bounds, is a process that began 10,000 years ago during the agricultural revolution. The implications of that revolution were completely lost on the people involved in it, and have only recently become clear. The pace of the revolution, though rapid in comparison with human cultural changes that preceded it, has been slow enough that the adaptable human has done just that, adapted to a radically changing world. And if we keep on adapting, we just might adapt to living in a nightmarish hell on a distintegrating planet. With a 10,000 year history behind it, it is absolutely ridiculous to even consider "blaming" some group for overpopulation. Let's try to be mature about this, set blame aside, and start looking for solutions. Ted Toal.