-Caveat Lector- forwarded..... Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com http://www.ioa.com/~davehart Several individual's viewpoints on the planet's human population levels. "Culled" from Jean Hudon's newsletter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 From: Boyd Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: overpopulation? Responding to the overpopulation issue... What is referred to as "over-population" is really non-sustainable population densities caused by inefficient or non-existent supply chains, overdependence on globalized distribution, and lack of self-sufficient modalities due to the atrophy of basic survival skills. If the entire world's population would stand together shoulder to shoulder, they would fit in the state of Oregon. There's plenty of room on the planet for quite some time to come. The problem stems from non-sustainable attitudes and customs that pollute the environment exacerbating the impact of each individual on the planetary biosphere. My lifelong campaign has been for a DE-globalization and RE-localization of human activity. This shift necessitates that an individual take responsibility not just for today or tomorrow, but for a century. Each intercourse with Gaia's resources is done in a conscientious and conscious way, acknowledging the cycle of creation and destruction in one's personal microcosm. There are entire populations now that not only can't think past tomorrow, but are so consumed with just staying alive, they can't envision a different modality than minute-to-minute survival. They find themselves in this situation because desperation has marginalized them from the source of their assistance. The inner vision and strength necessary to change their complex becomes blocked, and creates a blind spot to national governments already overwhelmed attempting management of "scarce" resources, as the vision of national governments becomes more and more myopic and defensive. Governments won't change this--it justifies their existence too much. Only individuals at the person-to-person level in neighbor-to-neighbor cooperation will effect change. Embracing a vision of heaven, and how one's personal life LOOKS in that heaven is the Step Zero. Daring to take action, no matter how insane it seems, is Step One. Boyd Martin Portland, OR THANKS FOR YOUR EXCELLENT COMMENT BOYD ;-) WE CAN BUT ALL AGREE WITH YOU! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 From: Antares <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: OVERPOPULATION Dear Danilo, I think EVERYONE has thought about "overpopulation" issues at one time or another - especially the "experts" working for the elite think-tanks and the World Health Organisation! Unfortunately, most "logical" solutions require the discreet "culling" of the human population, especially in the so-called under-developed nations. This has, in fact, been one of the underlying factors in justifying the military solution to ideological and political problems - at least it helps reduce the number of humans on the earth's surface. Covert experiments with biological weapons may be the real source of lethal viruses associated with ebola, anthrax, and AIDS - but we may never know for sure (the culprits' tracks are well-covered!) For these reasons I have stopped thinking along the lines of artificial population control because such notions lead inevitably to rationalizing genocidal practices, as did the Nazis under Hitler and the Soviets under Stalin. More recent and equally grisly examples of such thinking is to be seen in various "ethnic cleansing" programmes initiated by crazed individuals like Milosevic - and the far subtler attempts to "assimilate" indigenous peoples into the mainstream instituted by renegade regimes like the ones in Indonesia and Malaysia. I now believe that the earth can easily support 11 billion humans - provided we outgrow our primate territoriality programming and restore the spiritual core to our daily lives. In short, at less than 7 billion, we are not in immediate danger of a global catastrophe - but there definitely has to be a radical change of lifestyle and values. The earth cannot support even 3 billion if they all insist on living like Fifth Avenue Manhattanites or Hollywood stars or Southeast Asian Sultans! And in the final analysis, the worst polluters of the ecosystem are in fact the so-called developed nations where the human ego is most intensely individuated and motivated by ambition. Recently I heard a lecture by Terence McKenna in which he proposed that we voluntarily limit the number of offspring to one per couple. Within a generation the population would be reduced by 20% and within two, we'd have 40% fewer humans on earth. Theoretically, McKenna may be right - but I don't see how such a policy can be implemented unless we resort to totalitarian methods as was attempted in China and India. Such ideas of social engineering smack of Skinnerism and I have absolutely no trust in them. I'm more inclined to focus on improving and maintaining the quality of my own consciousness - and as each of us attends to our own mental and spiritual development, we shall be able to understand the sacred geometry underlying population growth and move consciously towards reharmonizing our way of life with the unwritten laws of nature. This alone will facilitate an Age of Miracles in which the problems of humanity's adolescence will fall away as if they never really existed. In other words, Danilo, I feel that the "overpopulation" issue is pretty much a red herring - it's there to confound us with statistics and to distract us from looking inwards - where the REAL ACTION is! Love, Light & Forever Rainbows, Antares - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AND TALKING ABOUT OVERPOPULATION, HERE IS A CASE IN POINT... From: "Boudewijn Wegerif" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: India's Population now 1 Billion -- WorldWatch News Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 It seems right to pass on this important, although rather depressing information from the WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE. To join the WORLDWATCH NEWS mailing list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Regards, Boudewijn Wegerif Monetary Studies Programme - - - - - NEWS FROM THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE WORLDWATCH NEWS BRIEF 99-6 INDIA REACHING 1 BILLION ON AUGUST 15: NO CELEBRATION PLANNED Lester R. Brown and Brian Halweil Sometime on Sunday, August 15, India's population will pass the one billion mark, making it the second member of the exclusive one billion club, along with China. But reaching one billion is not a cause for celebration in a country where one half of the adults are illiterate, more than half of all children are undernourished, and one third of the people live below the poverty line. Each year India is adding 18 million people, roughly another Australia. By 2050,U.N. demographers project that it will have added another 530 million people for a total of more than 1.5 billion. If India continues on the demographic path as projected, it will overtake China by 2045, becoming the world's most populous country. Well before hitting the one billion mark, the demands of India's population were outrunning its natural resource base. This can be seen in its shrinking forests, deteriorating rangelands, and falling water tables. For Americans to understand the pressure of population on resources in India, it would be necessary to squeeze the entire U.S. population east of the Mississippi River and then multiply it by four. Although India has tripled its grain harvest over the last half century, food production has barely kept up with population. Riceland productivity has doubled while that of wheat has more than tripled. Earlier maturing, high-yield wheats and rices, combined with a tripling of irrigated area, have enabled farmers to double crop winter wheat and summer rice in the north and to double crop rice in the south. As the nineties unfold, the rise in grainland productivity in India is slowing as it is in many other countries. Against this backdrop, the continuing shrinkage of cropland per person now threatens India's food security. In 1960, each Indian had an average of 0.21 hectares of grainland. By 1999, the average had dropped to 0.10 hectares per person, or less than half as much. And by 2050, it is projected to shrink to a meager 0.07 hectares per person. At this point, an Indian family of five will have to produce their wheat or rice on 0.35 hectares of land or less than one acre-the size of a building lot in a middle class U.S. suburb. Falling water tables are now also threatening India's food production. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) estimates that withdrawals of underground water are double the rate of aquifer recharge. As a result, water tables are falling almost everywhere. If pumping of water is double the recharge of an aquifer, then eventual depletion of the aquifer will reduce water pumped by half. In a country where irrigated land accounts for 55 percent of the grain harvest and where the lion's share of irrigation water comes from underground, falling water tables are generating concern. The IWMI estimates that aquifer depletion could reduce India's grain harvest by one fourth. Falling water tables will likely lead to rising grain prices on a scale that could destabilize not only grain markets, but possibly the government itself. With 53 percent of all children already undernourished and underweight, any drop in food supply can quickly become life threatening. With a staggering 338 million children under 15 years of age, India is also facing a major challenge on the educational front. Despite efforts to educate its people during the 52 years since it achieved independence in 1947, some 54 percent of adults in the world's largest democracy cannot read or write. Failure to provide adequate education has undermined efforts to slow population growth since female access to education is a key to smaller families. Providing enough jobs for the 10 million new entrants into the job market each year is even more difficult. Nowhere is this more evident than in agriculture where the number of farms increased from 48 million in 1960 to 105 million in 1990. Meanwhile, the average farm shrank from 2.7 hectares to less than 1.6 hectares, a reduction of some 42 percent. By 2020, the land will pass to another generation-and another round of fragmentation will occur, shrinking farm size even more, threatening the ability of those living on the land to earn a livelihood, and triggering a potential migration from the land that could inundate India's cities. After several decades of rapid population growth, the government of India, overwhelmed by sheer numbers, is suffering from demographic fatigue. After trying to educate all the children coming of school age, trying to find jobs for all the young people coming into the job market, and trying to deal with the environmental fallout of rapid population growth, such as deforestation and soil erosion, India's leaders are worn down and its fiscal resources spread thin. As a result, when a new threat emerges, such as aquifer depletion, the government is not able to respond effectively. If this decrease in water supplies causes food production to drop, death rates may start to rise. As noted earlier, India's population is projected to reach 1.5 billion by 2050, but there are doubts as to whether the natural resource base will support such growth. These projections will not materialize either because India accelerates the shift to smaller families, alleviating the projected additional stress on the resource base by reducing births, or because it fails to do so and the combination of deteriorating conditions pushes up death rates. The prospect of rising death rates as a result of aquifer depletion is no longeras hypothetical as it once seemed. Death rates are already rising in Africa, where governments, also overwhelmed by several decades of rapid population growth, have been unable to respond effectively to the HIV epidemic. As a result, adult infection rates already exceed 20 percent in several countries, including Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. In the absence of a medical breakthrough, these countries will likely lose one fifth of their adult population within the next decade. In Zimbabwe, a model of development in Africa until a few years ago, life expectancy has fallen from 60 years in 1990 to 44 years at present and is expected to drop to 39 years by 2010. In some ways, India today is paying the price for its earlier indiscretions when, despite its impoverished state, it invested in a costly effort to design and produce nuclear weapons and succeeded in becoming a member of the nuclear club. As a result, it now has a nuclear arsenal capable of protecting the largest concentration of impoverished citizens on earth. Even today, India spends 2.5 percent of its GNP for military purposes but only 0.7 percent on health, which includes family planning. Unless India can quickly reorder priorities, it risks falling into a demographic dark hole, one where population will begin to slow because death rates are rising. It may be time for India to redefine security. The principal threat now may not be military aggression from without but population growth from within. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com http://www.ioa.com/~davehart DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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