Six talking points to use when debunking the myth that overpopulation is the root of the environmental crisis:
1. Rates of population growth are declining: Between 1950 and 2000, the world population grew at a rate of 1.76%. However, between 2000 and 2050, the rate of growth is expected to decline to 0.77%.
2. Overpopulation is defined by numbers of people, not their behaviors: Industrialized countries, who make up only 20% of the world’s population, are responsible for 80% of the carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere. The United States is the worst offender, with 20 tons of carbon emission per person. Therefore, it is not the amount of people that leads to degradation, but what they are doing. Permaculture design illustrates how humans can have a positive impact on the health of our ecosystems, bringing greater health and equity.
3. Overpopulation justifies the scapegoating and human rights violations of poor people, women, people of color, and immigrant communities: Often times the subtext of “too many people” translates to too many poor people, people of color, and immigrants. This idea has been used to justify such practices as the forced sterilization of 35% of women of childbearing age in 1970′s Puerto Rico, under the control of and with funding from the US government. This is a human and reproductive rights violation.
4. Overpopulation points the finger at individuals, not systems: This lets the real culprits off the hook. When we look at the true causes of environmental destruction and poverty, it is often social, political and economic systems, not individuals. We see militaries and the toxic legacy of war, corrupt governments, and a capitalist economic system that puts profit over people and the environment.
5. Supports a degenerative mental model of scarcity: Much of this ideology was created by Thomas Robert Malthus, an 19th century English scholar. Malthus gave us the erroneous idea that the reason there is famine is because there are too many mouths to feed. This hides the reality that we have a distribution problem, not a scarcity problem. Malthus’s work has been used as the philosophical bedrock to justify many human rights violations throughout history.
6. Focusing on overpopulation prevents us from creating effective solutions and building movements for collective self determination: Permaculture teaches us that how we define a problem determines how we design solutions. How does viewing overpopulation as a root problem impact the way we think of and design solutions? What would solutions look like if we viewed people, all people, as an asset? The myth of overpopulation has lead to solutions of population control and fertility treatments, rather than overall health care and women’s rights. The more we blame humans and think we are bad and evil, the harder it is to believe in ourselves, count on each other, and build a collective movement for justice and self determination.
On this day, 1 September 1911, five women published the first issue of Japan’s first all-women literary magazine, called Bluestocking (青鞜 Seitō), which is credited with kickstarting the feminist movement in the country. In it, poet Akiko Yosano wrote: “The day has arrived when the mountains are about to become active… The mountains have simply been dormant for awhile … Believe only this: Now all the women who lay dormant are rousing themselves.” The issue was banned for containing a short story about the breakup of an arranged marriage, but was still a commercial success. Other issues were banned for containing erotic stories expressing female sexuality or for calling on women to marry for love. The magazine became increasingly radical, moving primarily from publishing literature to openly rejecting traditional gender roles, calling for legalised abortion, free love and criticising capitalism. In 1915 editorship passed to anarchist Noe Ito, but it was forced to close the following year by authorities who penalised distributors who carried the publication. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1200927243425757/?type=3
Painted limestone relief depicting two men, Qar and Idu, hunting ducks with boomerangs.
What ancient Egyptians like Qar and Idu were doing was taking one of the oldest hunting methods in human history (throwing a stick at something) and turning it into a pass time.
Old Kingdom, 5th to 6th Dynasty, ca. 2494- 2181 BC. From the Exhibition of Houston Museum of Natural Science.
it is constantly amazing and terrifying to me the amount of propaganda that is necessary in order to sustain capitalism
I’m not saying this to sound so smart and evolved, I’m absolutely including myself in this. I am constantly in awe of how much I have had to unlearn and how much more I need to unlearn. The first time I saw someone criticizing the nuclear family model, I was completely taken aback, and now I fully recognize the ways in which this social family model perpetuates abuse, poverty, and neglect.
And the capitalist class really has us believing that the products we consume have something to say about our identity. It’s fucking wild.
The United States is a country that believes that the availability of 27 different types of Oreos is somehow an indication of freedom while people starve to death on the streets and die because they can’t afford a medication whose price is artificially inflated.
The idea that someone can earn (and therefore deserves) millions or billions of dollars is absolutely asinine! The myth of the “self-made millionaire” is an outright lie! And yet both are bedrocks of American culture.
People in remote areas (both recreationally and living) - hiking or dangerous areas if they’re lost, hurt, or scouting ahead
Homeless people
Disabled people (to alert for help or contact vital services
Areas of extreme poverty (see all above)
Lost people (either urban or rural) able to call for help
Somebody close to death able to record all final thoughts (either injured, terminal, trapped, or unable to have constant medical care)
Children always able to call for help
Abused people - hiding a phone without worrying about it needing to be recharged
Think of the life of a charging cable that doesn’t get taken everywhere. You would never lose it cause you wouldn’t have to bring it anywhere. You never have to bend it to fit in a pocket.
