World Population Growth Discussion for Group 1
We all know that the world's increasing population is a current problem. In order for us to control the population, we first need to let people know what is really going on and how the world cannot support much more population growth. When we educate people about this problem, it will be easier. We need to reach out to people, explain to them how the resources are quickly diminishing, and let them know how much of a problem this really is. If we involve people, they can all form together to act, form ideas, and help the world reach ZPG, which it needs to do at this point. The birth rate needs to decrease. We may have to restrict the amount of children a couple can have in the overpopulated countries, much like China with the 1 child per couple law, but not be as cruel. We need to help countries that have not reached the demographic transition to do so. If we don't do something, we may need to limit resources to certain countries, but that is actually harsh. What are your ideas? Let me know.
53 Replies
Ahh yes, education is a very important thing....but there is more to it than just that!
Economics play a big role too. Something that should be done is increase the economies of the world. That will increase the standards of living, and furthermore decrease the amount of children needed to be had.
Not only that but healthcare and nutrition should be a manditory thing.....I mean if you have new cures for diseases and also newer, better ways to get nutrition, you would also longevity.
I do agree with the possibility of limiting the number of children to a family. That would limit the population. I mean if it continues to grow like it is, the world would in no way be able to support it.
C'mon people, let's hear your ideas next!
Yeah, economics is very important. I totally agree with you about the standards of living being increased decreasing birth rates.
The nutrition and health care I agree are also very important, but if there are cures for diseases and better nutrition, wouldn't people feel safer having children, therefore increasing birth rates again? I don't know if this would be an issue...I'm just curious.
I agree with you, Sue, on the fact that we need to inform people of what is going on. If they don't know the problem, they won't be interested in fixing it.
About the healthcare issue, isn't it that you have to decrease the death rate because then the parents won't feel that they have to have lots of children in order for at least one to survive to adulthood? I'm not sure but I think that might be it. That's probably the only thing I would disagree with.
Yeah, Milea, I guess you are right about the less children.
Like I said, I was just curious...
Yup yup..Milea was right. I checked it out. In countries with better health care and nutrition issues, the birth rate is definately lower than those that aren't....Only because you wouldnt have to have as many children to get at least one maybe two to survive.
Another thing to add to the economics.....if we broaden and strengthen the work forces in many areas that will also add to the economic increase and higher standards of living.
As Sam states, economics is very important in controlling population.
If we do not increase economics, the pollution will continue to increase making the environment even more unsustainable than it already is. If we don't find a way to control the population growth, we basically sign our own death certificates. People need to realize that if they don't acknowledge the current crisis, they aren't going to last much longer. We can spend the money we earn on medical cures and improving economics, and not on burning up our nonrenewable resources.
Sue is very correct.
We need to work on newer materials that will help on decreasing the reliance on non-renewable resources. This would really help on natural issues like pollution and other things that lower the living conditions in the world. This would indirectly help the population issue, because people wouldn't be living in such polluted areas and help their health.
You're right, Sam.
I believe that alternate energy sources such as solar, wind power, geothermal, and hydroelectric energy. I found a site that is really good for this discussion:
http://home.utah.edu/~ptt25660/tran.html
Check it out so you can see where I'm coming from. These energy sources give us the energy we need in a more environmentally efficient form.
That was a very interesting website. I found it very informative on the newer forms of enegy.
Now really what people need to do is raise awareness. I mean it's one thing for a few important people in the world here to know and understand these things, but think of the difference that it would make if almost everyone in the world would know. This defeinitely ties into the whole education factor. If people were educated on all of these things they would know how the world really is and the direction it is going and help the cause. Knowledge IS power!
Yes, knowledge is power! Haha...
My question is exactly how would we raise awareness to others? Do you have any ideas about how people would do that? Committees and such would definitely help, but would the people of the world be able to come together peacefully and do something about the damage people are causing, or would they disagree too much?
I think the fact of raising awareness is kind of the whole problem. People know what they want, but do they really know how?
Well there are many many ways to spread the message. There are websites out there like greenpeace.org for environmental issues and sanantonio.gov/library/web/socialissues.asp for social issues....Then there is also word of mouth and fliers and so many other things.
I guess spreading the word is a tough issue, but chances are it wouldn't be too hard to get the info out to major societies like that of the US and Japan and Great Brittain.
Oh, one more thing I would like to add to this (I recall Mrs. Maine saying something about it, and read about it while searching for references for this)...a major thing that needs to happen is for the countries to come together and form an actual global population. If we all keep thinking of ourselves as part of a nation before a part of an entire world, so many problems could be solved.
Yeah, I recall Mrs. Maine saying that and she has a major point. If we could come together as a global population, then maybe people would open their eyes and see there are more people in the world than just themselves that need to survive in the world. They might stop being so wasteful and such because they might realize that they are not the only ones who need the resources. They might see that others might even need them more than themselves.
If we all came together as a global population, couldn't that slightly reduce pollution? I mean, more businesses could join together to form huge businesses and they could all use the same resources. Wouldn't that also conserve resources?
You make a very good point there. That could lower pollution and everything. That also could add to our economy issue up there. If the companies and countries came together and worked with each other just think of the profits they would make and the amount the overall economy could raise.
You know, I just realized something. All of our issues end up tieing back into each other. So pretty much if you work on one, you help another as well.
I thought that you are very right that we need to think of ways to reach out to the people. My question for you is how do you think we should do so? I thougth your article was good but, the only thing i would disagree with is like what Milea said isn't it you have to decrease the death rate. That's the only thing i disagree with other than that it looks great. I also saw that Sam recemended some ways how to inform people about this problem. I think througth TV broadcast and posting information on Websites would be a great thing to do.
I thought that you are very right that we need to think of ways to reach out to the people. My question for you is how do you think we should do so? I thougth your article was good but, the only thing i would disagree with is like what Milea said isn't it you have to decrease the death rate. That's the only thing i disagree with other than that it looks great. I also saw that Sam recemended some ways how to inform people about this problem. I think througth TV broadcast and posting information on Websites would be a great thing to do.
That is a really good point, Sam. Now that you mention it, I've started to realize it too.
I guess that goes to show that if we raise awareness, and try to change at least one thing, the rest of our solutions will fall into place, and we may be able to control the population before we basically kill ourselves.
In my opinion, the most important thing we can do is come together as one global population, and the rest will write itself.
Taylor, you are correct there. It's not exactly that we have to lower the death rate, its more so we have to increase longevity. This would really help with the population issue for less children would be needed.
Sue, I think you are very correct in saying that. Coming together as a global population would help with the other causes. Working and solving one part would definitely get the ball rolling for the others and help them as well.
We know it's very important to come together as a global population, but in your opinion, do you think that the world could come together as a global population, or do you think that we'd let our differences and such get in the way?
I personally think it can happen, but it will take time. I mean there are many, many different countries that have different cultural issues to get over. But still, I think it is very possible for this to happen, if you look there are countries that have alies all over the place, so in a way it has already started. All that has to happen is get all of the countries together.
You know, I guess I didn't really think of that, but once again, you have a really good point.
If the countries of the world realize that aiming to reach ZPG is helping themselves, they would probably be more than happy to come together and save not only others, but themselves.
Hmm you have a very good point. Reaching ZPG would help themselves as wel as everyone. It's amazing really when you think about it. How so much can be done, but so few people know.
Scott, if you read some of the other comments back and forth, I think there are many different ways in there to help equal out the birth and death rates. Sanitaion, health care, nutrition, economics, education.....all of these can help the cause and get the ball rolling towards ZPG
pahs-ScottW wrote:
I agree with your idea. I believe that you could have been more in-depth with your explanation. For example, you state that the world should reach zero population growth, but you never give the greatest details on how we should reach ZPG or if one country can help another one reach ZPG. Otherwise, your discussion was fine.
Well, Scott, we've been discussing how the world can reach ZPG. Medical and nutrition increase longevity, which provides less of a need for children, decreasing birth rates. If the countries worked together to form a global population, a country with more medical advances and nutrition could share their discoveries and knowledge with one who is less advanced or still developing. That would allow less births in the countries that need to complete the demographic transition and the countries with the skyrocketing births.
Am I right Sam or is there something you want to add?
Well Sue, I think you hit the nail right on the head. All of these things would help to equal out the birth and death rates. Coming together definitely helps the cause. You did leave out the economics and work force in that last comment, but other wise you got it all.
And so you know, Scott, economics leads to the better standards of living which leads to better living conditions and therefore increases the longevity and lowers birthrates. Broadening the work force also add to the economics by creating jobs and increasing the economy.
So Sam, is there anything we left out in the discussion that Mrs. Maine might want? Do you have anymore ideas about what we covered or any new ideas?
Well Sue, I think we covered pretty much everything. I mean from nutrition and healtcare to a total global population, we pretty much covered it. Great Job!
This was a very fun experience. I like how we could just give our opinions then fight for them. But yes, I think we got the majority of everything.
All right...You're right, though. That was pretty fun! Excellent job, Sam!
Everyone's right... You are really smart!
Haha.
Alright, well I think we can call this a wrap. See ya tomorrow.
PS GOTTA LOVE BIO
hahahahaha
As I said in Stephanie's post, genocide is not a good option at all, but the population does need to decrease, and the birthrate is the key to reaching it. One way is to effect a global law that demands a woman to have her tubes tied after having a certain amount of children. Another possibility is to develop a drug that limits the amount of births a woman can give. The least expensive and easiest way to do so though is to promote birth control and abstinence throughout the world.
Hey guys nice discussion I do have something to add thought I think that Sam you are right about what you said about warning the people about the problem. Also Sue I think it can happen but, there is no doubt in my mind that it will take a while. I think that once people stop and think of what a huge problem this can be they will become more involved. Of course people will have there differences but I think that people will see that it is a problem we need to be concerned about.
From what I can see after reading all the discussions I think we covered just about everything. Nice Work guys.
pahs-SueS wrote:
The birth rate needs to decrease. We may have to restrict the amount of children a couple can have in the overpopulated countries, much like China with the 1 child per couple law, but not be as cruel. We need to help countries that have not reached the demographic transition to do so. If we don't do something, we may need to limit resources to certain countries, but that is actually harsh. What are your ideas? Let me know.
In my opinion, the one child per couple law in China has many con's. The population is growing and still growing so the effect that they wanted this law to have didn't help too much, it was a good idea and a good way to think but I don't think it worked. They forced the people into doing something that some of them didn't want to do and that could of caused a rebellion making the population grow even higher. Instead of people having more than one baby, they are mostly put up for adoption and killed. They want to keep the family name going so, what it boils down to, is they keep the boys and get rid of the girls. Eventually that will lead to it's own population decrease because there will be so many male's and very few female's to keep the population alive. I think that there is a better way to have the population decrease it will just take a lot of effort, thinking, and the people who actually care enough to change it. My solution would be just sending out the message about overpopulation. All people think it's their job to grow up, get married, and have kids; however, they never think of the effect it would have on the world if instead of having three kids, they would have two, or instead of having two, they would just have one. I don't think a law has to be passed limiting the amount of children you can have, I believe people just need to be informed about this problem and it might solve itself. In other parts of the world, many people aren't aware of what's happening until it actually happens, if we make them aware, as well as everyone else, then a change might happen and overpopulation may slow down. In order to get this message out, I think a type of peace system needs to be developed with a few member's of importance from each country that really care about overpopulation who all want to join together and try to change what is happening in and to the world and it's environment.
Another way to spread the word is through classic pen pals organizations! Well, actually, I don't know if that would really work that well for lowering the population growth rate, but it sure does help to unite the people of the world as friends. Like Mrs. Maine discussed in class, the U.S. is losing allies...I think it's in our best interests to make friends while we can. I've been talking to people from Australia, France, U.K., Germany, Hungary, Nigeria, Ghana, South Korea, and lots of other places. (please don't think I'm just advertising this organization...I think it's actually a good idea).
How I actually tie this all into the discussion is on you guys' suggestion of a united planet. Are you thinking that we should join all the countries of the world under one government? Because I wouldn't agree with that. Then I think the people of the world would feel they had to elect one leader, and that person would technically be the ruler of the world. Not to mention the government would have a part in ruling the world. I'm not sure if it would be such a great idea to unite the whole planet in this way, but I think it is a good idea to make friends instead of enemies. Then we could work together to fix the problems that we have created.
I think I rambled through that whole thing.
Oh, yeah, and I kind of agree with Amy... I used to think that limiting the number of children per family might be a good idea, but really, it's kind of harsh. I just think it would be best to leave it as a last resort...if nothing else is working, then we could go to this sollution. Other than that, I don't think it's really right to do that kind of stuff, unless nothing else works.
Amy and Milea...I'm seeing where you are coming from...
Your right, limiting children can be a bad thing, but think....If you dont have some sort of limit on this...what is stopping people from having 5, 7, or even 9 kids?
There has to be some sort of limit really....granted it shouldn't be a low one like 1 or 2, but people having up to if not more than 9 kids wouldn't really help with the stopping the population growth situation.
I agree with what you guys were discussing. I thought of an idea that you guys could comment on or modify. What if we used some of the things discussed in "An Inconvienent Truth" to slow the population growth. One example could be switching to energy saving light bulbs or insulating your home could imrove the economy.
I think the phrase "quality not quantity" could be appropriate for what population growth should be. As in we need people to live longer not feel like they need to reproduce quickly to pass their genes on.
You're right, Mason.
Here's what I say: I say we use the money we earn to improve health care so people understand that they don't have to reproduce as much because more of their children will survive to old age. That kind of goes with your "quality not quantity" idea.
Alright, now that we brought up Gore....some of the things he talked about were ok....but a lot of it.....not so much
I could go on forever about that but I figured I'd stick to the topic
Energy conservation is a good thing. It would help with all of the money and pollution problems.
And Milea's pen pal idea was a pretty good one. It would help to bring a lot of people closer together.
Sorry group that I didn't get to get on here last night. Like many others, my internet was down. But I really think that a lot of you make very good points. I was even thinking what Milea said, what if people don't really care about this problem. Then what? We can't just rely on this solution to solve everything. I agree that the TV and website posting could work..but yet again people could just not care and not look at it. If you really think about all of these thin۫gs there is always going to be down falls with them, so we have to come up with the best, most possible one. What would people really listen to the most? I definitely agree with what Mrs. Maine said in class today. Do we really want to be forced to make changes or should we start already? I think that also the adoption solution that Milea wrote about is also a terrific idea. I know there are many more solutions from really difficult to as simple as making a law about birth rate. I will be doing more research as the discussion continues and I would like to hear even more ideas anyone can think of..and if you have anything to say about mine just give me a reply
It is very true that something needs to be done, it's just the matter of letting people know the crisis we have landed ourselves in. Great point, Amy. If only people were aware of the procrastination we are accomplishing. We can't wait until we get in too far in this problem, because then we might be in trouble. So far, though, I can't think of any other ways to get the word around besides the processes we've already discussed.
I think you are all right. And Mason I agree with what your saying like in the Movie we could help the problem by the type of cars we drive and the amount of electricity we use. Also I agree with what Milea is saying we need to find a way to inform people about this problem.
I think we all have great thougth's.
A couple of other things I thought that I would throw into this discussion are that we can't try to force our ideas on others. We have to present all of the facts to them in a persuasive way and let them make their own decision.
Also to reply to one of Milea's earlier posts, You would not need to unite everbody under one leader. You could basically use a modified version of the United Nations to govern the world if it will ever ecome united.
Mason and Milea, you are both very correct by saying it's not necessary to unite the countries under one leader. But you also have to remember of countries that were opposed to the UN. What needs to be done is to figure out a way to form a cooperative system and grouping that is able to meet some of the needs from each country.
pahs-SamC wrote:
Mason and Milea, you are both very correct by saying it's not necessary to unite the countries under one leader. But you also have to remember of countries that were opposed to the UN. What needs to be done is to figure out a way to form a cooperative system and grouping that is able to meet some of the needs from each country.
Would you happen to know what countries did not agree to the whole UN idea? Also, why didn't those countries want to join the UN?
we can't change anything by using the simple minded thinking that got us here in the first place. i don't understand why it's such a problem to try different things and see how it works, that would be better than sticking to this "solution" that doesn't work at all. if we want to make a change we have to start making nice with other countries again because, well, everyone hate us. even people in america hate the way the america system works. i have many opinions about america and none of them are too great, we could be a lot worse too. i'm angry. i'm done.
pahs-SamC wrote:
Amy and Milea...I'm seeing where you are coming from...
Your right, limiting children can be a bad thing, but think....If you dont have some sort of limit on this...what is stopping people from having 5, 7, or even 9 kids?
There has to be some sort of limit really....granted it shouldn't be a low one like 1 or 2, but people having up to if not more than 9 kids wouldn't really help with the stopping the population growth situation.
sam...if people start to realize they are destroying their own world they might change. not everyone is going to have 9 kids.........you have to think about all the people that are actually trying to change things.
Mason to answer your questions...
Tawain is one of the countries that is not in the UN, because it was replaced by The People's Republic of China.
Also the Vatican City is not part of the UN for they have not just yet decided to join it.
I guess there weren't as many as I thought, I didn't quite look that up till now, and I admit my mistake, what I discovered was that I accidentally mixed together facts from other organizations in and thought it was part of this.... My bad guys.
And Amy H....I'm not saying that EVERYONE is going to have 9 kids...I'm just saying that there are people out there that do, and there are quite a lot of them. Yes there are a lot of people actually trying to change this....but think of all the others who haven't a single clue on what is going on.....education is key....if we educate them this problem wouldn't be happening
pahs-SamC wrote:
Mason to answer your questions...
Tawain is one of the countries that is not in the UN, because it was replaced by The People's Republic of China.
Also the Vatican City is not part of the UN for they have not just yet decided to join it.
I guess there weren't as many as I thought, I didn't quite look that up till now, and I admit my mistake, what I discovered was that I accidentally mixed together facts from other organizations in and thought it was part of this.... My bad guys.
And Amy H....I'm not saying that EVERYONE is going to have 9 kids...I'm just saying that there are people out there that do, and there are quite a lot of them. Yes there are a lot of people actually trying to change this....but think of all the others who haven't a single clue on what is going on.....education is key....if we educate them this problem wouldn't be happening
yes sam, i know what you are trying to say, but, if most of the population is having one or two children then i think having some that have nine isn't going to actually effect anything. the population will continue to decrease because most families will become more aware to this problem and they will actually want to change something. i have been saying though this whole thing that education is the key and most people are disagreeing and they want to force people into not having children. that's not a way to do this, in other countries people were forced into doing things they didn't want and look what happened to them. there is war, poverty, and death everywhere. america is supposed to be free and beautiful, what happened to being free and having the right to choose? if we even attempt to force this upon people there will be a rebellion, that has happened in so many other countries and that just leads to horrible living conditions. if we think some countries don't like us now, let's interfere some more and try to control the amount of children then can have, if any at all, by injecting the women with drugs and forcing people to get vasectomy's or have their tube's tied. if we want other countries to believe this is a problem, we have to respect them as a nation just like they have tried respecting us in the past. if schools all over the world had a class that was just about the economy and the environment, maybe more children would be aware. this isn't something taught in health class, yes health teaches about sex but not actual concerns like overpopulation or global warming. people ignore what they want to and these are the topics very few people care about because they think that by the time something actually happens they won't be around. that may be true but think of your grandchildren or great grandchildren. this is going to have to effect some generation, it may not be us, but it will happen.
Amy....all of the things that are being said...aren't being said as "the United States has to do it all"....these things need to be cooporative from all the countries.....and I am not saying we HAVE to force on people the amount of children they can have.....it was just an idea that was put out there......
speaking of ideas
I can't seem to find any of yours...all I see is you giving of negatives about the other ideas
let's hear some of your ideas
pahs-SamC wrote:
Amy....all of the things that are being said...aren't being said as "the United States has to do it all"....these things need to be cooporative from all the countries.....and I am not saying we HAVE to force on people the amount of children they can have.....it was just an idea that was put out there......
speaking of ideas
I can't seem to find any of yours...all I see is you giving of negatives about the other ideas
let's hear some of your ideas
sam i gave my idea's in most of the things i posted.
it's simply informing people about this problem. it doesn't seem like much but in time it could work if done correctly. if you read my whole statement it said my idea's somewhere in it, for instance creating a class in high school's that inform teenager's about current problem's with the environment and saying what they could do to change it. making a group consisting of people from each nation to go throughout the world and speak up is another idea. in order to do that though we need to make amends with a lot of people. it's nothing extraordinary but it could be really effective. think about it, if a class was created that talked about overpopulation and the rapid use of fossil fuels and actual problems that are harming the environment, and this class met once a week, even once a month, they could change what they want to do and it could greatly help. not everyone is going to agree with that but that's their choice.
oh and about you saying the united states doesn't have to do it all, you're right, and i never said that america had to do it all. we have zero countries that like us though so like i said we need to change the way we look at them and form alliances again.
Well, Amy I'm sorry, really, I must have missed your comment with your ideas. Real sorry.
But on the statement of zero countries liking us, that's wrong. The UK, Canada, and Australia are with us. So are South Korea, Isreal, Germany, Turkey, and Japan, and many more. So saying that zero people like us, isn't the correct thing to say....
This post was edited on: 2007-11-29 at 08:39 PM by: pahs-SamC
yes sam. some countries are with us, but they don't really support us. they don't offer us aid for anything we need help in. for example, our health care, compared to canada, is so poor, its sad actually. most countries don't charge for medical help but we do. i think it's just a situation where we are on our own about a lot of things because of the idea's we have formed.
Amy, the countries do support us. Canada and all the others loan us money and we loan them money too. Granted they might now understand us but we do have their support. I mean Canada is actually our main supplier of crude oil, not the Middle East. Great Britain actually helps us in a lot of things too. Even though they may be "further advanced" than us and they might not understand us, but they still do support us.
pahs-SamC wrote:
Amy, the countries do support us. Canada and all the others loan us money and we loan them money too. Granted they might now understand us but we do have their support. I mean Canada is actually our main supplier of crude oil, not the Middle East. Great Britain actually helps us in a lot of things too. Even though they may be "further advanced" than us and they might not understand us, but they still do support us.
sam..canada support us economically but not not environmentally. they, as well as the other countries, do not support us with the war, so if we tried making an education group to raise awareness we would need to reform those alliances. that's what i was stating. i also think you need to find what alliances america has with isreal, japan, and south korea. i couldn't find any at all, all the alliances we had with them they ended. also the U.K. used to support us with the war but now, not so much. i think you really need to research your information more carefully.
SamC
Nov 27, 2007 at 6:01 PM