Hello all- thought I would mention that it is important to realize that
while education may be a necessary component to addressing overpopulation,
it is not sufficient, and should not be promoted at the expense of ignoring
larger political/economic issues. There is lots of research out there
that illustrates that providing awareness and knowledge does not always
lead to behavior change, since behavior (and use of natural resources) is
determined by a multitude of factors. Macro-economic influences, fiscal
policies, market forces, class structure, etc.etc. have been shown to
influence resource use patterns, and to impact the number of children a
family decides to have. That is to say, that even if women have the
knowledge about family planning and the problems of overpopulation, they
may not be in a situation to act on this knowledge (ie. may not have access
to reproductive health care/family planning, may need more children to help
with work load, or take care of them when they are elderly). This probably
fits into your category of 'freedom' but I thought I would make it more
explicit. (I know you mentioned poverty too). I work in international
conservation work, and I have seen too much literature that assumes that
overpopulation is due to "those poor uneducated, ignorant peasants" and
that if we could just teach them, the problem would be solved. The
imperial colonial overtones of this attitude, sublte (or not so sublte) as
they may be, need to be pointed out every time they rear their ugly heads.
peace
katie
This is a good point to the previous post about taxing large families.
Taking
the right of reproduction away from anyone is wrong. The answer to
overpopulation is EDUCATION and FREEDOM - educated free women and men make
educated free decisions. Based on the current information given me - I,
being
an educated, free woman have decided to incorporate the environmental
crisis
into my decision not to have more children at this time. Given the right
amount of knowledge about the decision and the freedom to choose - I
believe
that most people would make the right decision and reproduce wisely.
Taking
away the privilege is NOT the answer.
Re: being wrongheaded on this issue - I did not say that overpopulation is
not a problem - I said that it is not at the root of the problem - and not
the
only cause of the eco-crisis - overpopulation is caused by other things -
lack
of freedom and education, poverty . . .
Peace!
Angela
