for your ease of reading

subject: world overpopulation, the issues
style: urgent, concerned
source: James Thurber

"There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else."

[Posted 5.2, 9:42.]

[Major edit 5.4, 18:02.]

An issue, which I think is the most important and most urgent problem in the world today, and which, from what I have seen, has received very little to no attention in the media and in the public eye, is the prospect of and potential for world overpopulation. In fact, when it was briefly mentioned in biology class in eighth grade, I had to essentially figure out for myself that it was a big problem. I began going over it in my head and thought, Hey, isn't this sort of a big deal ? I thought maybe I was mistaken or I had misheard, and that perhaps it really wasn't a big deal, because I had never heard anyone talk about it. But when I researched for information on the subject, my suspicions (and my fears) were confirmed. There is information online after all. It is a problem. It is the worst problem. And it has even been said that it is the only problem. If the world were not overpopulated, we would not have anywhere near as much to worry about as we do today. And if somebody doesn't spread awareness on this issue soon, the entirety of the human race will pay the price. Everyone will suffer. Thus, I take it into my own hands.

(The facts, from "Why Population Matters" on http://www.overpopulation.org/. You should go read the rest of that page, seriously.)

"Though more than two-thirds of the planet is covered with water, only a small fraction (around 0.3 percent) is available for human use and reuse. And no more of this renewable fresh water is available today than existed at the dawn of human civilization. World population, currently 6.5 billion, is growing by another 76 million people per year. According to the UN the world will add another 2.6 billion people by 2050. Rapid population growth has placed incredible stress on Earth's resources. Global demand for water has tripled since the 1950s, but the supply of fresh drinking water has been declining because of over-pumping and contamination. Half a billion people live in water-stressed or water-scarce countries, and by 2025 that number will grow to three billion. In the last 50 years, cropland has been reduced by 13% and pasture by 4%."

The bottom line is, there are too many people in the world. And worse, we do not have enough resources for everyone. What's more, the number of people is skyrocketing, and meanwhile, our resources are certainly not growing; if anything, they are shrinking. The birth rate is increasing exponentially, and the death rate is decreasing as life expectancy continues to grow. Do you see the problem here, folks ? This needs to be stopped !

Throughout the remainder of this post, I shall address several of the most controversial issues in the world today, and how they can be easily and logically solved, simply by taking into consideration the urgency of world overpopulation, (what should be) our foremost concern at all times. (Keep in mind I am not implying these are necessarily my own views; but most of them are, and those that are not should be.)

Homosexuality. Gay couples can't have children. This is good. More gays means a safer and healthier world for all.

Same-sex marriage. If they can marry, they will be more likely to stay gay. We have already established this is good.

Abortion. It is an easy way to ease population growth without killing people. Pro-choice all the way.

Adoption. It gives you children, without adding to the head-count. Much preferable.

Large family. Try to keep them small, please. Every child you bear brings us one step closer to annihilation. If you want more, you can adopt.

Premarital sex. It raises the risk of having babies. Don't do it.

Unprotected sex. It drastically raises the risk of having babies. Come on, guys. Be careful.

I will add more as they come to mind.

So basically, make sure you don't have children unless you plan it out beforehand. And even then, it should only be if you passionately want to. I mean, there are about sixty million married couples living in the United States today. [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005055.html] And that's just married couples. So imagine:  if every couple in America -- just in America -- decided to have another child, we would be bringing sixty million more people into the world. What do we do with them then ?

I always see people fighting to save one another's lives. Stop child hunger, put war to rest, you know the spiel. You know what, though ? Ironically enough, war and violence and such are the things that have stopped the population from having exploded already; all because people are simply too selfish to stop having so many babies. If the Holocaust and the Crusades and the Inquisition and all the horrible plagues and diseases had never devastated the human race, we would all be fighting each other to stay alive. Saving people's lives is nice and all, certainly; I have no intentions to go off on a killing spree. But before you so fervently advocate world peace, first make sure we have enough room on this planet to hold everybody when people stop dying. The population needs to stop rising; otherwise, we all die. The population needs to stop rising. We can either kill innocent people, or keep them from coming into the world in the first place. You choose.

Think about it. Think, think about it.