Is it normal that the majority of people don't care about overpopulation?

It seems to me that the majority of people don't care about overpopulation. Overwise, why else would people continue having 2+ kids when there's starvation, endangered species, loss of habitat for the animals, lack of suffient resources, polution, overcrowded cities and towns, disease, and kids stuck in foster homes and orphanages? Why can't people be more concerned about the planet? What if the Eugenecists are actually on to something even though people hate them? Will alot more people start caring and not add to their carbon footprints? It wouldn't hurt for humans to reduce the amount of births drastically. We could go 30-80 years (Maybe more) without anyone else having kids. It just seems like it's all lost because of the constant reproduction and demand for more human housing. What will it take for more humans to learn that having kids shouldn't be such a big "Neccessity" and that there are goals in life that are just as (if not more so) fulfilling and society-serving as having kids is (Such as child & animal adoption, volunteering, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, Godparenting, etc)? More war, genocide, homicide, pain, depression, corruption, poverty, and famine? We're killing ourselves off and we don't care as long as we have it our way in life. It just upsets me and I wish I was in a position where I could change things for the better: for both Humanity, and the Earth. Do any of you feel the same about all of this?

Voting Results
54% Normal
Based on 46 votes (25 yes)
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Comments ( 26 )
  • disthing

    You realise the majority of the people on this website come from countries with Sub-replacement fertility? That means the birth rate is lower than is required to maintain the current population number, which leads to a shrinking and ageing population. According to the UN, 48% of the world's population live in countries with SRF.

    However, migration to countries with SRF is high because they tend to be countries with higher standards of living, education and the lowest mortality rates. Countries with the highest birth rates are almost always those with the highest mortality rates, worst standards of living and the poorest education. Migration increases the net population of many SRF countries, despite the fact that the original population is declining, and so the net population grows.

    Basically what I'm saying is that:

    - Most of us on this site live in countries where the fertility rate is lower than required to maintain the current population (so accusing people of 'not caring about overpopulation' and implying they are exacerbating a problem when they choose to have a couple of kids is just retarded)
    - We currently produce enough food to feed every single person on earth (it just doesn't get to every single person on earth).
    - Education, economic stability and growth, access to medical care, a strong democratic government (or similar national union) are what the poorest countries need to thrive. If those countries had what we have, the rapid population expansion in these areas (specifically parts of Africa and Asia) would slow and stop. 'Overpopulation' isn't the cause of most of the problems you cited, however ("war, genocide, homicide, pain, depression, corruption, poverty and famine").
    - We couldn't go "30 to 80 (maybe more) years without having kids"! Especially not 80+ that's fucking ridiculous. We'd die out! How the hell did you think that made sense?

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    • Ha, after reading your comment, I now remember where my train of thought was headed when I wrote about Canada's replacement rates.

      You've explained it all quite well, Mr. Thing - certainly *way* better than I could have, even if I had completed my thought process. Sometimes I have a really short atten-----------Oh, look! A squirrel.

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      • disthing

        Thank you Mr. (or Miss?) Fun! :)

        I usually feel like I make a mess of it and end up writing too much. Glad someone understood my poorly structured rant. Don't worry, I have a touch of the A.D.D. myself sometimes, I'll be in the middle of a sen... Oh, look! A streaking nun!

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        • You are welcome. :)

          Haha, my husband occasionally complains about my short attention span. It annoys the shit out of him. Sometimes, there's just a whole lot of distracting things happening within my vicinity - it's not my fault.

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    • Half_Shock

      I thought the same thing when I read that 30-80 part. 80 years would mean the end of the human race, hell even 30 would wreck havoc; a small young population would have to bear the burden of an older population many times its size. Idiotic comment by OP.

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    • IDiGAFi

      I stopped at the first paragraph. Do you realize how sunk inside the machine you are? You start from the basis that reducing the population is a bad thing. What possible discussion can there be?

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      • disthing

        I never once said reducing the population is a bad thing. Sunk inside the machine... How exciting. If you'd like to actually discuss something how about reading the whole thing, otherwise, "what possible discussion can there be?"

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  • Shackleford96

    I am compelled to discuss this but i have a feeling you wouldn't like what i have to say because of what happened last time i commented on a post you made like this.

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    • Shackleford96

      People have already commented better responses than the things I would have to say about this.

      I am still curious though, if you are not the same poster as that other story, then why did you use many of the exact same points in your argument about this subject?

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  • thr

    I think it's fine if people care about overpopulation and the environment and, because of that, refrain from having many kids.

    I don't expect people to neglect their own happiness for the sake of the environment. Humans are programmed to want to have kids, and it isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do to find some interest that gives your life meaning.

    It seems, you are coming from a place where it seems easy to just choose not to have kids and find something else to do, and I think that requires some affluence.
    How about poor people who do not have access to birth control and abortion clinics? Perhaps, many are not even aware of how overpopulated the world is.

    I think it requires some level of prosperity for someone to care so much about the environment. It means you have the surplus energy to do so. If it seemed that your sole means of survival were to work in some job in an environmentally unfriendly industry, and one of your few joys was the thought that your kids might grow up to have a better life, you might think otherwise.

    In my opinion, you are making the mistake of thinking that the thing you find important, is objectively important and therefore should be important to everyone else.
    Why not just say that humans are finally able to use up all the resources the planet has to offer, and as a species live like there is no tomorrow? We, who are here now, are not going to live forever anyway, so why not just seize the day?
    I'm not saying people should do that, I like the idea of treating the environment well. I'm saying that caring for the nature and the environment is not objectively good.

    Regarding eugenics, the problem is that you make ideas about the future of the human species more important than the people who are here now.

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    • Wow, this is such a fantastic answer, all of it.

      I especially like your fourth paragraph about how prosperity affects a person's priorities. And the fifth too - I tried to make a similar point earlier, but I think it may have been too cheeky.

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  • SuperBenzid

    Why worry about a problem that contains its own solution? Eventually the world population will decrease, probably pretty drastically in a short period of time.

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    • Like fruit flies in a jar, eh. ;)

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      • Shackleford96

        ^Like fruit flies in a jar with grenade launchers and violent tendencies...

        :P

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        • ...And only one rotten grape left to share.

          Hmmm, I wonder which flies will come out on top?

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          • Shackleford96

            Whichever ones vomit the most?

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  • Yes, it's normal that most people in the world don't care about overpopulation. I believe they are the same individuals increasing our worldwide population and I don't get an impression they are terribly concerned about it.

    In Canada, a place with a lot of room for a lot of people (technically, even though I like it as it is), the death rate exceeds the birth rate. Our population growth depends on wealthy, well-educated immigrants who come from places of the world with already massive populations. I'm not sure why I added that.

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  • Erik963

    I am one of the people that care. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about that, except if world war 3 happened.

    Contries I would like to be destroyed are France, china, India, Islamic contries, then we there would finally be peace.

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    • disthing

      That's a stupid thing to say.

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  • GoraIntoDesiGals

    So if it takes killing off all humans to "save the planet" there would be no one around with the awareness that it was saved in the first place.

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  • BLAh81

    I feel EXACTLY the same way you do. It's no coincidence nature is shrinking in the pace humanity is growing. Nature has it's ways of sorting over population out (MASSIVE famines for example), but preventing those would be VERY sensible I think.

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  • loopoo

    Nature has it's ways of sorting over population out, most people don't seem to understand the strain it is causing though.

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  • robbieforgotpw

    Can't control population by deliberately killing off 80% of the people like the eugenecists want to do.

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  • Terence_the_viking

    I've only had one son for the moment i wish for him to have a little brother or sister preferably a sister but i was thinking that if he has another borther then i will try for another sister but stop at 3.

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  • Vato

    Don't worry about it. In our lifetime, it won't be an issue. Nature has its way of controlling over population.
    I still see thousands of miles of unpopulated land between California, Oregon and Nevada. Once those areas start to fill in, then you can begin to complain and worry.

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    • BLAh81

      "Nature has its way of controlling over population."

      Yes, MASSIVE starvation, wars, diseases, etc. Don't you think trying to prevent this would be the wise thing to do?

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