Uncomfortable question: Is the world overpopulated?

[Sir Mohamed]

With all the news on climate change and the rising imbalances in nature, do we have to ask the sincere and uncomfortable question, whether the earth is overpopulated? Human kind uses too much ressources and destroys the nature in a record pace. Just a very limited list of issues: We're not just using more ressources than we can recreate (fossil fuels, wood, land etc.), the world also consumes too much energy and there is way too much pollution. And I'm not just talking about carbon emissions. For example, microplastics are a huge problem, destroying entire ecosystems. The growing consumption of meat is creating a whole lot of other problems as well. I could go on and on.

Since it's difficult to implement worldwide and far reaching reforms, don't we have to ask the question, whether it's sustainable if world population continues to be remain this high, let alone grow? Population growth isn't an American or Western problem, though we use by far the most ressources per capita. I think if things don't change in the first half of this century, we're doomed. Wars over ressources will be inevitable. And they combined the climate change will certainly cause massive refugee streams. We've seen the political consequences of the refugee crisis in Europe since 2015, but that one will look like a tiny incident in comparison.

As uncomfortable it sounds, I think we actually need measures to reduce the world population. Birth control is one important tool, maybe a one or two-child policy in certain areas of the world, although we've seen the negative demographic consequences in China. There is obviously no magic solution.

What do you think?

[Sir Mohamed]

There aren't "too many people" (though "too many idiots" might be true)--the problem is resource hoarding--too much in the hands of a small number of people.

That's the question of income inequality, not necessarily ressources. Other countries have more natural ressources than the United States. Europe doesn't have a lot of natural ressources at all.