by Cameron Foster

Created on: May 21, 2009

Jesus said, "Forbid not the little children to come to me". It's a touching and tender sentiment which is regrettably not seen in our world today. Far too many little children (and people in general) will steadily become a greater problem as we move deeper into the 21st Century, unless we act with compassion and resolve now.

The Earth's population has gone from:

About 1 billion in 1800

4 billion in the 1970s

6.6 billion and counting in 2009.

It is projected to reach 9 billion in the year 2050; that's 40% more than today.

While some studies show population will level off around 9 billion in 2070, this is far too many people competing for the increasingly stressed number one scarce resource in the world: fresh water.

The only moral choice is contraception. Perhaps the United Nations would for once truly have the courage to begin an aggressive global campaign to educate populations about the emergency. This might require locking horns with entrenched religious groups (such as the Catholic Church, sorry Pope!) that refuse to use any reason on this issue.

There are many very exciting technologies probably in the realm of reality within 10-20 years: meat "grown" without need for animal slaughter or the tremendous inefficiency of traditional livestock harvesting; organ farms brought forth by stem cell research to replace virtually any body part (or at least organ), and the list can be quite long.

None of these will be much good if we have too many people.

What's lacking is a simple act of courage: religion is the key roadblock to making real progress in global population control. If citizens of planet Earth could be persuaded to put aside ideological differences for a common good we might have a chance.

A song lyric states the problem plainly, It's not just religion but paranoid nationalism (such as found in Iran) that gets in the way too:

"Better the pride that resides

In a citizen of the world

Than the pride that divides

When a colorful rag is unfurled" - Neil Peart

Nations would of course keep their sovereignty; the suggestion here is not of a "one world government" but of a common global strategy. It would be one of cooperation just as with Kyoto, and with 3rd-world nations, which shoulder the bulk of the population problem, taking a front-row seat to action.

Finally, casting aside nonsensical and barbaric religious edicts (such as prohibiting contraception) and nationalism are not enough. We will have to marshal the resources through genuine good will of our planet's souls to get the job done.

The populace would be allowed to gradually reduce through natural attrition; there is absolutely nothing in this essay which suggests or endorses any other method for reducing the total population. The math is simple: if we can have fewer births then deaths, we'll be on our way to a healthier planet eventually.

Given that people can rally around something as abstract and still debatable as Global Climate Change, then perhaps, given the right public awareness (of the unquestionable emergency that overpopulation is), we can get to stemming the tide before it's too late.

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