This Planet Comes With Limits
May 19, 2014 • Climate Change & Mitigation, Family Planning, Protection of Species, Daily Email Recap
This Planet Comes With Limits
See: http://www.cnn.com/2014/
Note: Carl Safina is an award-winning scientist and author, founding president of Blue Ocean Institute at Stony Brook University and host of the PBS television series “Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) — When I was in my 20s, a girlfriend surprised me by saying that we didn’t have to worry about overpopulation because technology would make sure we always had what everyone needed. Of course, economists have been saying this for decades.
And of course, billions of people today don’t have what they need.
Because such people as my old girlfriend and economists presuppose that unlimited economic growth is necessary and also believe adding billions more humans to the world is desirable, I would like to share some thoughts about such thinkers, whom I’ll call “Growthers.”
Why do Growthers think we should add billions more humans to the world? Do they want more consumers? Or is it something deeper, more biblical, more fruitfully multiplied? All of the above? Whatever their impulse, compulsive craving for “no limits” to economic growth and human numbers is irrational. A finite planet comes with limits.
Current World Population
7,757,880,800
Net Growth During Your Visit
0
