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Thanks to John Tanton for reminding me of this 1971 paper by Garrett Hardin, which seems fitting in response to some of the recent disasters to strike Asia.
Nobody Ever Dies of Overpopulation (PDF, 14KB)
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August 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 am
Actually it may serve as an example (not the first, nor sadly not likely to be the last) of someone trying to use a sad even to justify an extremely questionable and likely (from my POV) unrealistic ideology.
Instead of asking if the number of people who died had more to do with where they lived than if they did, or how (as in the architecture of the individual homes as well as how communities are), or even if there was an effect manner by which to notice the terrible that event was coming and warn people so emergency measures could be carried out he only tries to point to an ideology of “overpopulation” that if followed wouldn’t have saved the lives of these people. If anything following the tenants of this ideology may have killed them sooner and likely wouldn’t have prevented the event directly created this disaster.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:56 am
Oh, and one other thing about “econuts” and pollution controls. I think the latter are a great idea that isn’t used often enough. However, this doesn’t have anything to do with a low or high population level and it is too bad that “econuts” (whom I frequently agree with and feel make the world is a better place) don’t realize this.
A company can build a factory or a waste dump where there are many people or few, it isn’t the number of people that stops it from doing so.
September 7th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Hardin is saying that overpopulation can be a cause of deaths even though no one is struck dead by a vengeful God of Overpopulation, nor is overpopulation listed as the cause of death on anyone’s death certificate. Overpopulation creates a circumstance in which deaths occur that would not have occurred without overpopulation, just as one person could easily escape a burning theater whereas a packed house will result in deaths.
A similar situation exists with regard to world hunger. No one dies of hunger, but a life of chronic, persistent malnutrition weakens bodies (especially those of children) such that people die of measles, colds, and other challenges that healthy people recover from. Thus it makes sense to say that hunger is an important cause of death–one that is often caused, at least in part, by overpopulation.