Comment 33306

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted September 09, 2009 at 11:35:35

I simply love the complaint that any drop in population growth will result in a mostly aged-population without enough young people to support them economically, much like what's happening in Japan at the moment.

The argument totally neglects the fact that a proportional bulge in aged population is the natural result of a bulge in young population. At some point, we are either going to have to stop growing as a population, or begin thinking about ways of life which are far more energy intensive - like colonizing the moon, the undersea floor, or perhaps Mars (and honestly even giant floating zepplin-helicopter cities would be cheaper and less difficult than putting even a hundred people on Mars long-term). When we stop going, we are going to need to deal with an aging population bulge...and the longer we put that off, the heavier that burden will be to bear, and the less resources.

The beautiful thing about population control policies is that they just need to be not implemented. I would never, and could never, support the kind of totalitarian controls imposed in China. Time and time again in Japan and all over Europe, as well as Canada...if people are given access to the information and means to prevent children, they will use it. A decent standard of living, medical care, education, and human rights don't hurt, either (and naturally demand lower numbers).

Frank, honest sex education and access to contraceptives can no longer be stifled by political kow-towing to religious fundamentalists. Have a chat with the nurses at one of Hamilton's youth-oriented sexual health clinics about subjects like the influence of Christian fundamentalists at the school board, and you'll see how influential these people really are.

"Today, the notion of progress in a single line without goal or limit seems perhaps the most parochial notion of a very parochial century." — Lewis Mumford

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