Guest Editorial
By Frosty Wooldridge | SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
Most Ominous Predicament Facing Humanity in the 21st Century: Human Overpopulation
In the 21st century, humanity’s prolific ability toward exponential procreation guarantees human misery, suffering, starvation and environmental destruction on a level unknown in the past 10 centuries.
At 7.3 billion people in 2015, and adding 1 billion every 12 years--the human race expects to add 3.1 billion within 35 years to reach between 10.1 billion and 11 billion by 2050.
Humans don’t understand their predicament. They ignore the mounting environmental signs of a degrading planet. They discount that 10 million children and 8 million adults starve to death annually. They dodge harsh realities such as water shortages in states like California and countries like Mexico. Humans completely ignore that 100 species suffer extinction 24.7. Humans evade the fact that our oceans face accelerated warming of their waters via carbon footprint—from our accelerating burning of fossil fuels.
Humans cannot understand nor do they care about such anomalies as the 100 million tons of plastic in the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”, the size of Texas and floating around the Pacific Ocean—killing millions of marine creatures annually. They evade any understanding of the consequences of killing 100,000,000 (million) sharks annually for the past 30 years. The fact that two billion humans cannot secure a clean glass of drinking water daily—never bothers the rest of humanity that still enjoys clean drinking water.
Rivers like the Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze and others sport 10,000 to 20,000 square mile dead zones from so much toxic water pouring into the world’s oceans—doesn’t faze leaders of countries. Fukushima’s radiated waters now flow throughout the world as it contaminates marine life and vegetation that we eat—but the press buries any mention of the consequences.
Humans cannot or will not comprehend their dilemma as to shortages coming as to food, water and resources. Humanity’s mega-overpopulated cities like Tokyo, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Paris, Beijing and dozens more—never stop to think what will happen when oil exhausts itself. Once oil vanishes, and it will be exhausted in this century, humans do not possess any replacement as versatile or plentiful and non-polluting to fill the tractors to cultivate the crops to feed the masses.
"The cheap oil age created an artificial bubble of plentitude for a period not much longer than a human lifetime....so I hazard to assert that as oil ceases to be cheap and the world reserves move toward depletion, we will be left with an enormous population...that the ecology of the earth will not support. The journey back toward non-oil population homeostasis will not be pretty. We will discover the hard way that population hyper growth was simply a side-effect of the oil age. It was a condition, not a problem with a solution. That is what happened and we are stuck with it." James Howard Kunstler, The Long Emergency
My research shows over a dozen quotes repeating the same thing. As oil exhausts, its price will rise to $20.00 a gallon, which will change everything in industrial societies. Ironically, as we grow another three billion people in 35 years, we exhaust more carbon that destroys the balancing systems of the planet—to destabilize the planet’s ability to maintain life.
If we think we can escape the oil dilemma, we will not avoid the water shortages.
“Water is essential for all dimensions of life. Over the past few decades, use of water has increased, and in many places water availability is falling to crisis levels. More than eighty countries, with forty percent of the world’s population, are already facing water shortages, while by year 2020 the world’s population will double. The costs of water infrastructure have risen dramatically. The quality of water in rivers and underground has deteriorated, due to pollution by waste and contaminants from cities, industry and agriculture. Ecosystems are being destroyed, sometimes permanently. Over one billion people lack safe water, and three billion lack sanitation; eighty per cent of infectious diseases are waterborne, killing millions of children each year.” US EPA
Yet, you won’t hear a peep out of world leaders as to the accelerating water shortage predicament.
As human numbers explode, the rest of the natural world faces human encroachment that slaughters hundreds of thousands and into the millions of species into extinction:
Upwards of two hundred species…mostly of the large, slow-breeding variety…are becoming extinct here every day because more and more of the earth's carrying capacity is systematically being converted into human carrying capacity. These species are being burnt out, starved out, and squeezed out of existence. Thanks to technologies that most people, I'm afraid, think of as technologies of peace. I hope it will not be too long before the technologies that support our population explosion begin to be perceived as no less hazardous to the future of life on this planet than the endless production of radioactive wastes.” Daniel Quinn
Every continent, every ocean and every spec of air on this planet faces the devastating onslaught of the human race. Very few humans speak up. All the worldwide media suppress any discussion of human overpopulation. The Catholic Church and Islamic Church along with Hindus and more—actually encourage more human population. They work against birth control and family planning. They prefer illiteracy and more babies, which leads to more poverty and greater damage to Earth’s eco-systems.
Religious leaders and political heads of state promote “cognitive dissonance” or “intellectual denial of reality.” The same holds true for the American, Canadian, European, Indian, Chinese and Australian media. World leaders shun any mention of what we face.
However, reality will not ignore humans much longer. As water and gasoline exhaust themselves, if you think the European onslaught of refugees from Africa and the Middle East worsens in 2015---think what we all face with 50 million refugees migrating toward Western countries in the coming decades. (Source: UN Refugee Projections)
Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall said, “If we don’t halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity – and will leave a ravaged world.”
Reality: this “population thing” bears down on all of us faster than anyone realizes. We either take steps to stop it or we become victims, especially our children.
So what can you do as an individual?
· Spread, share, and distribute this column all over Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Digg, Stumbleupon and other outlets.
· Help create a discussion in your community by LTE at your local newspaper. Advise your TV stations to interview experts on overpopulation.
· Spread the two Roy Beck videos to all your networks so they can see “visually” what we face and what we must do to create a national discussion, debate and solutions.
· Push for a total “Immigration Shutdown Now” of all immigration into the USA—to create debate.
· Write or call your Congressional reps to demand a national discussion and shutdown of immigration.
We must force Congress into an “Immigration Shutdown Now!”
Share these videos all over America:
In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”, Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG, graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation. Take five minutes to see for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=player_embedded
“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck
This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future generations: in a few words, “Mind boggling!”www.NumbersUSA.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ
Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents from the Arctic to Antarctica to see the effects of immigration, environment and overpopulation up close and personal. He authored: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans.
