Population explosion.

Population explosion.

Disclaimer:
Before i write this post, i need to mention that i have no intention to insult or offend anybody and this post is simply about sharing the information i was exposed to, over the years and have been thinking about. I respect all the religions and all the personal choices.


Here is why i chose to write this post.



 

From Populationgrowth.org

" It took 250,000 years for civilization to reach a population of 1 billion. Today, we add 250,000 people to the planet each day. It took a century to add the second billion of us on Earth. Today, we add 1 billion more every 12 years."
Taken from Populationgrowth.org

"India is currently home to about 1.21 billion people, representing a full 17% of the earth’s population. India's 2011 census showed that the country's population had grown by 181 million people in the prior decade."



Taken from http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/indiapopulation.htm

Also please see.
 http://www.populationmatters.org/


I was born in Iran. a revolution happened there when I was 6 or 7 years old.
I remember it.

One thing happened after the revolution was a population explosion in Iran. People were told that it is up to the higher power to decide how many kids a family could have. So people everywhere were talking about god's will ( as I said, my blog has nothing to do with religion and personal believes).I remember also that the government was telling people, that they should make babies, because that is what god wants.

The result:.. Years later they had a census. Guess what . The population under 17 years old was over 70% of the Iranian population. That means a disaster in my opinion.
That means the country would need to provide 70% more schools, 70% more health care for kids , 70% more food. 70% more everything and be ready NOW for the first wave of new baby boomers. The country would need to be ready ASAP. The first wave was graduating from high school in a year. These kids will need colleges, housing, jobs, universities, more food....

They also will get married and make their own children. Just imagine. I believe ,THAT GROWTH by itself would move a country towards a financial disaster without considering the political issues.

I haven't lived in Iran for many many years ( over 22 years). But I heard that there are growing issues including but not limited to:

- Street kids.
- Homelessness.
- Poverty.
- Beggars.
- Prostitution.
- Horrible pollution( Tehran is gray).
- Unmanageable traffic.
- Young jobless people.
- Corruption.
- Addiction.
- Inflation.
- ...


I visited Iran in 2005 after many years, and actually noticed and felt of the change . What I also noticed was that how wonderful people were in that country that is going downward fast.

The drop in Population growth rate in 1980 in Iran was due to people's education on overpopulation.

The key is education!!!

 

So, after the census, the government decided to act and act fast. I remember seeing the slogan of" less children, better life" I remember that many people were going to villages and far away towns to educate people for having less kids. I saw it everywhere. I remember thinking about not having many kids myself, because i felt, it was not the right think to do.

Now, I know that China started a one child per family program. But I heard that they are running in to some problems. Since lots of families want boy, they make girls disappear, so they can have a second child that they are hoping is a boy. I heard that the girls birth might not be reported. or they might end up in orphanages or worst. That caused the number of boys being higher and the balance is lost in some regions. It was in the radio, that I heard this story. And that is why China has so many girls for adoption, but not too many boys. Looks like many girls have been abandoned without being registered anywhere. One good coming out of it is some wonderful families had the opportunity to adopt from China.

Again I am not trying to disrespect any country or any culture.

To me it looks like education would be the good way to go. I am not sure how effective it could be, but the experience in Iran was too late, but somewhat successful. But I believe we should start ASAP.
The population is on the rise and there are not enough resources to handle more population. The fast progress spreading across the globe requires more resources. There in nothing wrong with wanting to live a more convenient and comfortable life. But with the high number of people trying to reach a more comfortable life, there is simply not enough resources. A more convenient life tend to be more wasteful as well. That is why i, personally am trying to change my own lifestyle first and reduce the use of resources in our own family's life.

Years ago there were lots of death caused by sicknesses that are cured now. But (fortunately) since we overcame some of that problem, I feel that we need to compensate for not allowing the nature to do population control and take over this responsibility by controlling the population on our own. If we use Antibiotic, and treat ourselves to stop deadly diseases, we should also use family planning and birth control. Birth control and pregnancy prevention , to me looks like the most ethical and effective way to go.

less people would mean:
- Less deforestation and destroying the trees.
- Less pollution.
- Less global warming.
- Less diseases due to higher quality of life.
- Less traffic.
- Less stress.
- Less garbage.
- Less chemicals and fertilizers to meet the high demands of food production.
- Less destroying the nature to create housings.
- Less Poverty
- Less jobless people.
- Less of every thing. I assume; crime, rape, hunger, street kids,....

So I strongly believe that the first step we need to take is a population control. But I never ever hear anybody talking about it, due to it being a sensitive case to talk about. It is too personal. It is hard to talk about it without talking about religion. Also it appears to me that the countries with the rising population along with other problems mentioned above are harder to reach.

If the number of us humans grows with the same rate, soon the earth resources will be finished. It is a simple truth, the higher the quantity, the lower the quality becomes.



Paris.

Please feel free to let me know what you think of this issue.