HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Population Control Isn't the Answer to Climate Change. Capitalism Is.

Views:1021
@ReasonVids

Discredited 18th-century economist Thomas Malthus still haunts the environmental debate.
----------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth," said climate activist and Time magazine person-of-the-year Greta Thunberg before the United Nations in the summer of 2019. "How dare you!"

Some praised Thunberg's performance as a stinging rebuke to the rich and powerful for failing to put the survival of the planet above their own needs. Others saw the exploitation of a young woman with emotional problems for propagandistic ends.

There's no question that Thunberg's style of environmentalism—strident, urgent, and critical of global capitalism—has gained a strong foothold in contemporary politics.

A 2019 paper from the journal Bioscience, co-signed by more than 11,000 scientists, asserted that Earth's population "must be stabilized—and, ideally, gradually reduced." And some politicians have questioned the morality of having children at all.

Whether contemporary proponents of these ideas know it or not, they are all the intellectual heirs of the misguided 18th-century thinker Robert Thomas Malthus, who believed that when human population increased, famine and environmental destruction would ensue.

Reason's science correspondent Ron Bailey, who is the author of the 2015 book The End of Doom: Environmental Renewal in the Twenty-first Century, says that Malthus failed to see that as human population increased, so too would livestock and crop populations with the help of ever-improving agricultural technology, which is why food availability steadily increased over the past two centuries, outpacing population growth.

"Basically, the Malthusian prescription turns out to be completely wrong," says Bailey.

is it really possible that the world could run out of food?

While the International Food Policy Research Institute projects that farmers will have to produce 70 percent more food over the next 30 years to feed everyone on the planet, the technology already exists to accomplish that goal. Agronomist Paul Waggoner calculates that if all farmers became as efficient as today's U.S. corn growers, the world could feed 10 billion people today on half as much land.

Today's Malthusians are most concerned about the disruptive effects of climate change. Citing global warming and habitat destruction, documentarian David Attenborough described humanity as a "plague upon the Earth."

Meanwhile, the Bioscience paper signed by 11,000 scientists projects total societal collapse if population isn't managed properly.

"I think that there's a kind of a catastrophizing, apocalyptic undercurrent," says Ted Nordhaus, founder of the Breakthrough Institute, which advocates technological solutions to environmental problems. He believes the environmental movement has long been hindered by its anti-growth paradigm.

"Conventional environmental ideology posits human development and environmental protection, oppositionally, and I have exactly the opposite view," he says.

Nordhaus says that the most effective way to deal with climate change is by promoting policies that accelerate economic growth.


And so Nordhaus advocates for greater reliance on clean, abundant energy like nuclear power to fuel advanced economies towards possibly innovating even lower impact alternatives.  But the third-world may still need to rely on traditional fossil fuels on its path to prosperity and population stabilization.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by John Osterhoudt, James Lee Marsh, and Meredith Bragg.

Photo credits: Greta Thunberg in train station, Hansson Krister/ZUMA Press/Newscom; David Attenborough at conference, David Perry/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Greta Thunberg and others on stage at UN, Jacques Witt/SIPA/Newscom; Greta Thunberg speaking at UN, JEMAL COUNTESS/UPI/Newscom; Greta Thunberg smiling and listening at UN, Abaca Press/Roses Nicolas/Abaca/Sipa USA/Newscom; Starving baby, Nie Yunpeng Xinhua News Agency/Newscom; Starving kids' hands, Nie Yunpeng Xinhua News Agency/Newscom;

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
greta thunberg
,
global warming
,
climate change
,
malthus
,
overpopulation
,
alexandria ocasio cortez
,
environmentalism
,
breakthrough institute
,
ted nordhaus
,
ron baily
,
sierra club
,
birth control
,
population control
    Thumbnail for Whatever Happened to the Classroom of the Future?6:18
    Whatever Happened to the Classroom of the Future?
    ReasonVids
    1001 views
    Thumbnail for some of these will be good for DAY OF THE ROPE1:30
    some of these will be good for DAY OF THE ROPE
    bestofupgoat
    521 views
    Thumbnail for The Bitcoin-Dollar System Is Not Threatening the Dollar but Keeps the Ponzi Game Going | The Solari Report | Catherine Austin Fitts4:53
    The Bitcoin-Dollar System Is Not Threatening the Dollar but Keeps the Ponzi Game Going | The Solari Report | Catherine Austin Fitts
    invidious
    118 views
    Thumbnail for GTA 5 but it's randomized every minute | GrayStillPlays16:32
    GTA 5 but it's randomized every minute | GrayStillPlays
    invidious
    271 views
    Thumbnail for Photo tour at the Gulf of Finland. Rusty tower. | Andrej Levitan10:39
    Photo tour at the Gulf of Finland. Rusty tower. | Andrej Levitan
    invidious
    620 views
    Thumbnail for The Disgraceful Shaming of James Watson8:09
    The Disgraceful Shaming of James Watson
    AmericanRenaissance
    1419 views
    Thumbnail for Joe Biden: Too Male, Too White, Too ‘Racist’8:14
    Joe Biden: Too Male, Too White, Too ‘Racist’
    AmericanRenaissance
    1517 views
    Thumbnail for Hail Fauci!1:26
    Hail Fauci!
    AOU
    1253 views
    Thumbnail for Who Kills Whom: The Truth About Black Crime12:20
    Who Kills Whom: The Truth About Black Crime
    AmericanRenaissance
    1571 views
    Thumbnail for Brian Stelter1:10
    Brian Stelter
    bestofvoatxyz
    755 views
    Thumbnail for Florist added to the list 😆😆😆 #OLAFLEX #thatlittlepuff #catsofyoutube | That Little Puff0:17
    Florist added to the list 😆😆😆 #OLAFLEX #thatlittlepuff #catsofyoutube | That Little Puff
    invidious
    299 views
    Thumbnail for Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - Walkthrough - Part 41 - THE FACTS (Gameplay) | theRadBrad10:42
    Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - Walkthrough - Part 41 - THE FACTS (Gameplay) | theRadBrad
    invidious
    341 views
    Thumbnail for PUSH ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!! | colinfurze14:51
    PUSH ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!! | colinfurze
    invidious
    306 views
    Thumbnail for How to make a panoramic sunroof on a car for $ 80 - VazZilla, part 2 | 4You AutoManija11:30
    How to make a panoramic sunroof on a car for $ 80 - VazZilla, part 2 | 4You AutoManija
    invidious
    414 views
    Thumbnail for YOU DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF MAAAM0:15
    YOU DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF MAAAM
    bestofupgoat
    249 views
    Thumbnail for How Smartphones Shrink Our Brains | ColdFusion20:54
    How Smartphones Shrink Our Brains | ColdFusion
    invidious
    266 views
    Thumbnail for The changing face of America: New CBS report, admitting white replacement is happening9:37
    The changing face of America: New CBS report, admitting white replacement is happening
    bestofvoatxyz
    691 views
    Thumbnail for Who Is a White Supremacist?7:32
    Who Is a White Supremacist?
    AmericanRenaissance
    1525 views
    Thumbnail for Why UNTRAINED People are MORE CAPABLE in Fights… 10 DANGER Traits to Look OUT for | Fight SCIENCE8:46
    Why UNTRAINED People are MORE CAPABLE in Fights… 10 DANGER Traits to Look OUT for | Fight SCIENCE
    invidious
    462 views
    Thumbnail for Why tap the anvil? | The Coal Dragon Forge1:00
    Why tap the anvil? | The Coal Dragon Forge
    invidious
    336 views
    Thumbnail for Loving These Stationery Items is as Easy as Loving Money#shorts | Stationery Pal0:42
    Loving These Stationery Items is as Easy as Loving Money#shorts | Stationery Pal
    invidious
    324 views
    Thumbnail for Multiplayer Snake [game]1:00
    Multiplayer Snake [game]
    PrincessBananas
    3234 views
    Thumbnail for Real World DC (Health Care Remix)0:53
    Real World DC (Health Care Remix)
    ReasonVids
    930 views
    Thumbnail for 9x10 chess with centaurs Fairy Stockfish | darwinian vintologi9:28
    9x10 chess with centaurs Fairy Stockfish | darwinian vintologi
    invidious
    488 views
    Thumbnail for Avicii, Alan Walker, Charlie Puth, Martin Garrix & Kygo, The Chainsmokers Style ⛄ Winter Vibes | DEEP BLAZE1:00
    Avicii, Alan Walker, Charlie Puth, Martin Garrix & Kygo, The Chainsmokers Style ⛄ Winter Vibes | DEEP BLAZE
    invidious
    357 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
greta thunberg
,
global warming
,
climate change
,
malthus
,
overpopulation
,
alexandria ocasio cortez
,
environmentalism
,
breakthrough institute
,
ted nordhaus
,
ron baily
,
sierra club
,
birth control
,
population control
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle