The View on Overpopulation: Looking Deeper into the Hardinian Taboo

2018 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: overpopulation moral dilemmas

Introduction
"One would have thought that it was even more necessary to limit population than property...The neglect of this subject, which in existing states is so common, is a never-failing cause of poverty among the citizens; and poverty is the parent of both revolution and crime." This quote did not come from any professional doomsayer or modern writer, or even an ecologist or a historian. Aristotle said this, though he lived in a time where the population was four percent of what it is today. People have been worried about overpopulation since the period before Christ. This makes you wonder how something as serious as overpopulation got so far out of hand. So out of control, in fact, that overpopulation could be the biggest threat to life on this planet. The reason is because overpopulation is downplayed, and is buried in the list of all the other environmental issues. Some specialists have researched why population control is still a taboo subject. They look into why still so many argue that overpopulation is not serious, and anyone why believes that there are too many humans, is misanthropic pessimist. I will answer the question: How and why is overpopulation ignored, and what actions should be taken?
I will examine the manner in which publications and politicians avoid placing a proportionally accurate amount of blame on overpopulation for the global crises, as well as create connections that strengthen existing arguments. Then I will move on to the reasons why the media, the government, and environmental NGOs deny addressing the problem of overpopulation. In this paper I will argue that this topic is extremely neglected and has been put off for far too long. Also I will contribute to this topic by making connections that ...

... middle of paper ...

...hicago Public Media & Ira Glass. “Hot In My Backyard”. This American Life Produced by WBEZ Chicago. distributed by Public Radio International. 17 May. 2013.
Kaiman, Jonathan. "Time running out for China's one-child policy after three decades." theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 1 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 May 2014. .
Greene, Margret, Joshi, Shareen, Robles, Omar., By Choice not by Change- Familt Planning, Human Rights, and Development, New York , UNFPA, 2012. Print.
Paul R. Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York: Ballantine Books, 1968). Prologue.
Reed, Sarah O. The Publication of Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb by the Sierra Club, 1968: Wilderness-Thinking, Neo-Malthusianism, and Anti-Humanism. Thesis. Wesleyan Univeristy, 2008. Middletown: Honors College, 2008. Web.

Show More
Related

  • China's One-Child Policy DBQ

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Document F examines the lives of 2 children effected by the OCP. They both felt it helped them in the long run, but all of the attention and pressure to do well was on them. This leads to the creation of the “Little Emperors.” This can lead to a poor ability of cooperation in the next generation. The amount of pressure on a single-child to do well can also lead to an increase of depression and suicide among the new generation, which is not the correct way to decrease population. Document B dives into the issue of fertility rates before and after the OCP takes effect. A year before the Policy takes effect China’s fertility rate is 2.7; in 2008 it is 1.7. This change is unnatural and extremely savage. Social issues are only the tip of the iceberg; the One Child Policy also caused a gender gap beyond

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Garret Hardin's Tragedy Of The Commons

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” is an article that identifies the nation’s current problems and predicaments that can’t be resolved through the use of technical solutions. Hardin’s work heavily focuses on overpopulation, a prominent and unceasing issue that significantly distorts and affects the stability of the Earth and the abundance of the planet’s resources. In his article, he mentioned some reasonable and important solutions to overpopulation, but he also explained its downside and how the said solutions may not be ideal and practical. “Tragedy of the Commons” revealed that the human population will continue to flourish and how it will be greatly detrimental to our society unless individuals get the education that they need and

    Read More

  • The People’s Republic of China and The One Child Policy

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council’s Resolution Concerning the Strengthening of Birth Control proclaimed the one child policy in 1980. This policy said “the state advocates the one couple has only one child except for special cases, with approval for second birth” (Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, 1980). The goals of the policy were to have zero growth in the country and maintain the population at 1.2 billion by 2000. China offered financial and marital incentives to couples with a child and suspended them if the couple had a second child. Despite being defined as a voluntary program, the policy was enforced through administrative controls (White 2006). Be...

    Read More

  • The One Child Policy in China

    2851 Words  | 6 Pages

    In 1979, China decided to establish a one child policy which states that couples are only allowed to have one child, unless they meet certain exceptions[1].In order to understand what social impacts the one child policy has created in China it important to evaluate the history of this law. China’s decision to implement a Child policy has caused possible corruption, an abuse of women’s rights, has led to high rates of female feticide, has created a gender ratio problem for China, and has led to specific problems associated with both the elderly and younger generation. Finally, an assessment of why China’s one child policy is important to the United States allows for a full evaluation of the policy.

    Read More

  • One Child Policy Dbq

    586 Words  | 2 Pages

    Feng Wang and Cai Yong stated that the fertility rate was already declining and the policy wasn’t necessary for the Chinese people, especially because of the enormous costs. The fertility rate, which is the number of children the average woman has in her lifetime, in China started at 2.7 in 1979 and decreased to 1.7 in 2008. The article “China’s One Child Policy at 30” argued that the policy did not need to be introduced in China because the rates were already lower than Brazil at 4.2 and Thailand at 3.6.

    Read More

  • Population Control

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    The realization of the world's population crisis is creating new and disturbing ideas by many people to solve our over population problem. Many ideas are being condoned as well as being criticized. Examples set by other countries such as China and India should help the United States establish a policy that is moral and can solve over population, if there is a problem at all.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Vertical Farming

    2585 Words  | 6 Pages

    Overpopulation has become a drastic issue, for no one knows how many people the earth

    Read More

  • China's One Child Policy

    2616 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rosenberg, Matt. "China One Child Policy - Overview of the One Child Policy in China."

    Read More

  • One Child Policy Essay

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the rein of Mao Tse-tung China’s population was almost at one million. Mao allowed couples to have as many children as they please because to him, “of all the things in the world people are the most precious.”(Fitzpatrick 2). As the as the population continued to grow the government became concerned and decided that population control was necessary in order to remain able to support the citizens of China. Furthermore, the government feared there would not be enough food to upkeep residents. The next leader, Deng Xioping, created the “One Child Policy” therefore preventing families from having more than one child. On September 25th 1980 the policy was instituted. Subsequently this law has prohibited children and parents the experience of having a big family.

    Read More

  • Overpopulation Is a Growing Problem

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overpopulation is a growing problem all over the world. This is a very important environmental issue and needs to be dealt with. This environmental problem is affecting many countries in the world, but mostly the poor and impoverished countries that don’t have the resources to help deal with these issues. It also affects the environment like plants animal life and air quality. When the population of people expands we need more natural resources from the environment, so we consume more then we can produce. This leads to the lack of resources in many areas. When expanding we create a lot of pollution in the air, water, and land. The pollution affects many humans health. Overpopulation is doing more harm than any other environmental issue. Overpopulation also causes many of the other issues we are dealing with. This is very dangerous to not only us humans but the planet. Even though many wealthy countries are not affected by this overpopulation, I feel like they should help the cause. There is always two sides to an issue like this. Some people don’t think that overpopulation is a big problem and the ones who say it is an issue that needs to be dealt with.

    Read More

  • What Is Human Overpopulation?

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    Human population growth is the leading factor we have in place to sustain a more perfect ecosystem for future generations. Over development has led to extinction, habitat loss and climate change that scars the Earth and will never be recovered again. According to the Center for Biological and Diversity we are adding 227,000 more people on top of the 7 billion everyday which is causing species to disappear 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate of natural selection. It is time we get over our greed, religious biases and having more children equal’s more money mentality. The Earth and its ecosystem should be protected by every individual to keep it as pristine as the day they were born to pass off on future generations to inherit.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Statistics

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rosenberg, M. (2010, 11 17). China's one child policy. Retrieved 01 31, 2011, from About.com:

    Read More

  • Informative Speech: The Problem of Overpopulation

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    We as individuals do NOT understand the problems with overpopulation. We do not take the time or the effort to be educated enough; therefore we do not help in the prevention of future problems to keep our society as it is now.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Environmental Philosophy

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...contemporary environmental crisis, we are able to gather a concise understanding of issues that are often hard to explain yet alone understand. Wealth has become a power system evoking dualism of the western and third world. Power and quality of life is measured against the wealth of an individual. This is a result of human’s tendency to over utilize and eventually deplete the resources available to them inevitably leading to overpopulation. In the next fifty years, the success of the environmental movement may depend much more on its ability to change ethics and values. Environmental philosophy gives an invaluable lens into the issues of overpopulation by deconstructing complex dynamics within society. By spreading ideas within environmental philosophy to all different corners of the globe then everyone will have a chance to learn how to live rightly in the world.

    Read More

  • Social Ecology

    1533 Words  | 4 Pages

    10. Yang, J., (2007). Local Variations of the One-Child Policy and Adolescent China. Journal of Population Studies.

    Read More

More about The View on Overpopulation: Looking Deeper into the Hardinian Taboo

Open Document