World Overpopulation Awareness - Editor's Replies

I am a senior at --- school in Plymouth New Hampshire. I'm doing an report on how over population can effect political conflict in any area of the world, and I was wondering if you could send me any information or you point of view for my report. Any thing will be a great help. Thank you, Erik

Dear Erik, I am happy to see that you are interested in the topic of overpopulation. May I print your email on the overpopulation page? It is your generation that will observe the consequences of overpopulation as well as produce the solutions. I ask that you keep your eyes and ears open to the way the world is and has been and see if you can see, in the years to come, the deterioration in the quality of life for not only plants and animals, but for people as well. As for myself, I can no longer see distant mountains from Sacramento, especially Mount Shasta that I could see in the 1950s when my family moved here. I can remember camping in wonderful places like Yosemite, and we didn't even need a reservation! Now they're saying we may need to ban cars from there.

With overpopulation comes numerous problems that cause political turmoil. In my area, water used to be abundant, but now water companies are seeing that they can take advantage of the upcoming water shortages and charge high rates. Up to 15 different water agencies, county and city governments, taxpayers associations, and environmental groups are attempting to iron out their differences in opinions about water distribution. Then, of course, there is water quality, the EPA, the Delta flows, and the fisheries, all non-problems back in the 50's.

On a world-wide basis, the topic of the hour is global warming. Environmentalists are on one side, saying there IS global warming, and industrialists on the other, saying there ISN'T, and Clinton and Gore leaning a little toward 'There IS', but not so much as to alienate the industialists (especially let's not offend the manufacturers of the light trucks, sport utility vehicles, and minivans, who don't have the stringent emission controls of the sedans). I don't see how anyone can go to China and choke on the pollution caused by coal burning and not make the connection between overpopulation and the amount of carbon in the air! What kind of world will it be like if China succeeds in raising it's standard of living so that most people there could own a car?!!

And then there is food. The religious right contends there IS and always WILL BE enough food, and Paul Erlich and other overpopulation folks claim that food production is falling behind population growth. In the meantime, people are starving in Africa, using up their arable land, migrating to other territories, and then getting massacred. I hate to think what would happen if China had a famine (I guess they did awhile back). But then, that's not a problem, is it? - it's 'not in my back yard' (NIMBYism)- not yet.

Well, there is overcrowding. There more people there are, the less representation we have in Congress. This means the rich and powerful have a bigger voice in government. The people who cannot afford to hire attorneys and accountants and tax consultants and lobbyists begin to feel that they CANNOT make a difference and become either apathetic or rebellious.

I hope this is enough food for thought. When you have written your paper, I would be interested in printing it on the WOA! web page.