Almost 1 in 5 (18%) in my poll believe overpopulation is a hoax, a number way too high for my reader and Twitter audience, which comprised the sample of this quick poll (unless the poll was infiltrated by Elon’s trolls, something very frequent on my posts). Obviously, this figure would have been much, much higher in the general population outside of my audience of reach, which indicates the level of denial of the overpopulation problem that persists in wider society.
But the result here, within my own audience of followers, demonstrates the level of misinformation on overpopulation which exists even among environmentalists. They have been fed the propaganda that we can continue to grow this population if we stop eating meat, buy electric vehicles, work from home and take up gardening and meditation classes. This propaganda has originated from PG-approved environmental celebrities such as George Monbiot and many others who have been hand-picked and rubber stamped as the spokespeople of the movement, exactly because they won’t rock the boat. But all roads eventually lead to money, and to the renewable energy industrial complex. In fact, all of our society and economic system, from religion to world leaders to corporations, pushes forward the agenda of growth – an essential element of which of course is, population growth. Overpopulation is the biggest taboo subject because for the average person the subject matter itself is so existentially shattering and surreal that it simply “does not compute”. They therefore choose the safety of denial, while at the same time viciously attacking those who raise the issue as eco-fascists, anti-humans and anti-civilisationists. The level of rage, and sometimes violence, is so intense that, if anything, it reveals the inner struggle the overpopulation denialists are having with themselves: deep down they know they are wrong, so they deflect by discrediting the messenger, not the message: accusing others of being anti-human, because they don’t have any actual rational, mathematical arguments.
But even among those in the poll who believe overpopulation IS a problem (82%), there is a sizeable “silent contingent”: almost a quarter have never publicly raised the issue of overpopulation, which means they would probably never do it. And this is one of the biggest hurdles: because if we don’t talk about overpopulation, there will be no awareness. I am guilty as charged myself: raising the topic amongst friends and family who have children is usually immediately perceived as a personal attack on them. The reactions are vitriolic and often violent, even from people who never express such reactions. So I have stopped having these conversations within the physical company of people, but I have made it a personal commitment to do it more in my writing in the future.
Overpopulation is really the next frontier in the environmental movement. People are beginning to understand that growth is unsustainable. When will they start having conversations about the root cause of growth – population growth?
George is an author, researcher, molecular biologist and food scientist.
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George Tsakraklides 
Hello again, George. I’ve been sounding this trumpet for over 40 years, and only keep quiet if I’m concerned about my physical safety in certain company. Always a lover of wilderness and nature, I read biologist Garrett Hardin in the early 80s, and realized that we were the most destructive species on the planet. During my son’s half century we’ve doubled; in my 3/4 C tripled, and my mother’s lifetime quadrupled. Biologists call this Plague Phase for large mammals.
Nature has begun increasing negative feedback this century, with fertility crashing in most countries. Hans Selye’s General Adaptive Syndrome (GAS) explains much of this as an automatic stress response. In countries where women have gained sufficient empowerment, rates have declined further and faster. As I wrote in a simple paper in 2000, most underdeveloped countries sought to slow growth, but most wealthy countries were stingy. The three main global institutions – religions, businesses, and indebted governments- sought growth of revenues as you write. They have been obstacles all along.
The paper was given to the plenary of The World Congress of the System Sciences, Toronto, webcast to three continents, has been on-line for 1/4 C, and never been rebutted. The data is out of date of course. It is currently available here:
https://www.countercurrents.org/kurtz060611.htm
Many thanks for this Steven. Love the plague phase terminology might steal it!
Bill Rees uses it. That’s where i learned it.
Well written and well thought out essay. In my 2018 book “Stress R Us”, I proposed and documented “population density stress” as the primary cause of ALL of our “diseases of civilization”, which are due to the overactivity of our stress responses triggered by our stressor filled “built” modern urban/suburban environments. So, you were way ahead of the curve and your efforts are much appreciated. Have a blessed day! Gregg Miklashek, MD
Re Steve Kurtz’s response to my post: does Mother nature have no “blessings”?? Nature is the face of God/Mother Nature and all that is holy, at least in my book, literally. Have a blessed day!
The point is that “holy” is only a subjective evaluation, a calorically produced idea. If anyone presents evidence for anything not physical (energy/matter/information) or independent from it, a Nobel Prize awaits. Good that we agree about massive overpopulation being detrimental to all life except human parasites and things that thrive on our waste!
You may have read it already, but if you haven’t Life on the Brink is a great book.
I haven’t, thank you for sharing
I wonder if it isn’t already too late? Even if women had no children starting tomorrow (9 months?), it would take many decades for the human population to decline below carrying capacity. Given the imminence of several severe tipping points in planetary boundaries already breached, and with surplus energy declining, a great deal of premature death is unavoidable.
Still, one less child born today is one less person dying prematurely and horribly later this century.
yes, too late, but each unborn person is probably another human saved..thanks
Thank you, George, for the constant reminders that reality is about to appear on the world stage. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/4/3/32
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800919310699
https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/JPS/article/view/855/522
Thank you very much William
The Overpopulation Podcast https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast is an excellent countermeasure for the organized population denialism pervading the media.
thank you i will check this out
The Overpopulation Podcast https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast is an excellent countermeasure for the organized population denialism pervading the media.
thank you!
I do hope that all the males here have had vasectomies
All of us G-7 males are so infused with microplastics & forever chemicals that getting a vasectomy is redundant.
Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals threaten humanity
The chemicals to blame for our reproductive crisis are found everywhere and in everything
The end of humankind? It may be coming sooner than we think, thanks to hormone-disrupting chemicals that are decimating fertility at an alarming rate around the globe.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/18/toxic-chemicals-health-humanity-erin-brokovich
On the bright side, the money I save not getting a vasectomy, I can use to get my penis enlarged – win-win!
Crowded animals heave overactive stress responses, produce high blood/tissue cortisol levels and the cortisol suppresses the synthesis and release of the master sex hormone, GNRH, in the hypothalamus, thus reducing the production and release of LH and FSH, and sperm in the testes. But, of course, you already knew this.
Brilliant prescient writing/thinking/acting(?). I’m a retired psychiatrist/physician/stress researcher/recovered alcoholic-addict/childhood abuse survivor and author of “Stress R Us”, in which the term “population density stress” is coined. An e-copy is available for free at Stanford, just Google the title for the PDF. The simple fact is that we are now 3,000 times more numerous than were our last ecologically balanced, self-sustaining ancestral migratory Hunter-Gatherers/pastoralists, who lived in clan/band social groups from which our neurophysiology evolved over millennia, and explains why we feel so very mismatched with our massively overpopulated urban/suburban society today. Thank you for this breath of intellectual fresh air and know that you are not alone! Have a blessed day! Gregg Miklashek, MD
Thank you!
You are very welcome! My 2018 book attributes ALL modern human stress diseases to overpopulation/overconsumption. You may want to check it out as a free online PDF in the Stanford e-library. Thank you for your wonderful, courageous work. I ordered one of your books. Have a blessed day!