Walker Bennet brought to our attention the matter of sixth billionth
person to the planet, and I have a few comments. As I agree that
population and access to appropriate contraceptive methods is a very
important topic, I am usually frustrated by the direction that
discussions of world over-population take. It is usually argued that
it is the sheer number of people that is depleating our resources and
increasing contamination and poverty. But I think this is only a
small part of the issue. I think that the real issue is the
amount of resource depleation and pollution PER person. The
statistic that sticks out in my mind is that an average person
(whatever that is!) in a "developed" country uses 12 (that's TWELVE)
times the resources of an average "developing" country person. In
other words, if I have one child, that child is the same as my
counterpart in Bangladesh or Nigeria having 12 children. Wow. Now,
one wonders, who is *really* overpopulating the earth?
Another part of the story... Statistics also clearly show that as
infant mortality rates decline and the opportunity for education
increases, fertility rates decline (much more so than the
availability of contraceptives alone). That is, when people can be
sure that a given child is likely to survive to adulthood and they
are willing and able to invest in that child, they are likely to have
fewer children. (The move from agrarian society to non agrarian is
also an important factor.) Having lived in and married someone from
a "third world" country, I live somewhere between the two realities,
and I experience the differences everytime I try to explain to
my in laws (for example) why we haven't had children yet... In most
countries of the world, the potential benefits an additional child
are felt to be much greater than the cost of feeding one more mouth.
But that's because they don't agonize over how they will buy more
health insurance (no one can afford it anyway), how they will pay for
a decent education (doesn't seem attainable anyway), how they will
afford to add another bedroom, another bed, baby seats, cribs, toys,
clothes, a new minivan and on and on. The things that seem to us in
the US to be basic needs when raising a child are just not reasonably
attainable realities in most countries. So another child just seems
like it requires a bit more food, a few more hand-me-down clothes,
and a few more prayers. (Small price to pay for gaining another
possible source of family income.) Of course, this is much less
resource-intensive!
So the issue is more than just that some parts of the world are
reproducing too often. Other parts of the world are also consuming
too much. And declines in reproduction are usually met with
increases in consumption. So what's the answer? Well, there's
obviously more than one answer, but a big chunk of the solution is
related to why this thread has a place on this list.
Anita
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