[MCN] Overpopulation (Part 4)

[John Meyer]

Today is day 4 of a series exploring the issues of overpopulation/overconsumption.

We started out talking about whether we have too many people on the planet and what, if anything, we can do about the issue. It was suggested that the concept of overpopulation is an oversimplification because the Earth’s carrying capacity should not be determined solely by the number of people on the planet, but must also take into account how many resources the people on the planet consume. I think we all agreed that many people in the United States consume more resources than those in other countries. We then started breaking down the concept of overconsumption into a more manageable proportion. With the concept of “Think global, act local” in mind, we asked whether things like zoning would help address the issue of overconsumption in Bozeman or Missoula.

Missoula has been pretty quiet, but the Bozeman list serve has raised some interesting questions, which I’m hoping we can talk about today:

 Conversation Starter

-        At a global scale, is it possible for us to help third world countries begin enjoying the luxuries of the first world (sanitation, electricity, etc.) in a manner that does not include overconsumption? If so, how?

-        Can we address the issue of overpopulation/overconsumption in a way that is fair across lines of wealth, race, gender, and power?

-        Is our ability to reason an evolutionary adaptation? If yes, is each individual’s reasoning part learned and part genetic (P= G + E)? If yes, is it possible that there are recessive reasoning traits that include taking care of others before taking care of oneself with the blind evolutionary hypothesis that that one can maximize individual fitness by taking care of those around them? 


John Meyer
Executive Director & General Counsel 
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center
P.O. Box 412 Bozeman, MT 59771
John at Cottonwoodlaw.org
(406) 546-0149

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